The Whole World in Your Hand
by StarLion
Summary: Separated from from each other, Lan and MegaMan face different challenges; Lan the mystery of what's going on, and MegaMan how to get back to Lan. But is the offer of Godhood a temptation that MegaMan cannot resist?
1. Unsuspecting Beginnings

**A/N:** This is another story I've been periodically working on when I can't work on the other stories for some reason or another, and because of that, it doesn't get worked on very often.  
It's based somewhere after the sixth Battle Network game, but before the bit in the end of the credits of 6 that gives sneak into Lan's future.  
I'm having to invent a little bit of history for the series to make a bit of this work, but it should make sense.  
Anyway. As usual, I'm rambling, so I'll shut up now and let you read.

* * *

"Homework, Lan? You're doing homework without being reminded?"  
"Gotta do it sometime. It's about time I started being responsible about it, right?"  
"Well... yes, but it's unexpected."  
"New school year. I started getting up on time last year, so this year it's homework. Like new year's resolutions, but for school. I'm done, anyway. Math isn't so hard."  
"I remember when you used to ask me to do it for you all the time," MegaMan commented with a sly grin from the PET.  
"Hey! I got over that," he protested, pausing then adding, "Eventually."  
"Took you long enough, huh?"  
"Cut that out," Lan grumbled, stowing the homework in a folder, then that in his bag. "I should have done this sooner. It's nice to know it's out the way and no one's going to nag me about it."  
"And there you were grumbling about it all the time."  
"Yeah, yeah, alright, so I wasn't much good at it."  
There was a short pause.  
"You know, I'm surprised at you," MegaMan told him.  
"Why's that?"  
"You haven't mentioned going online yet."  
"Me? Would I do that?" he asked, his face the picture of innocence. "It's not as if I'm online too much, after all," he continued.  
"Of course not," he replied sceptically. "Planning on doing it anyway?"  
"Naturally. We said we'd meet ProtoMan at the Scilab homepage, remember?"  
"If you start remembering things any more, you'll put me out of a job."  
"Nah, no chance. Even I'm not that perfect."  
MegaMan shook his head as Lan connected up the PET to the computer, transmitting him to the net.  
Their homepage was relatively quiet. That is, relatively quiet, given that they had collected banners for so many other homepages that people frequently used theirs as a short cut around the web.  
The recent addition of some boards on the homepage meant that some people stopped by for longer, rather than just passing through.  
MegaMan passed through, nodding to a few regulars as he made his way through to the net proper. Though he and Lan had a certain celebrity, other Navis seldom treated him all that differently. There were exceptions, of course, but they were usually little to no trouble.  
It gave no indication of what they would find on the net, or what was going to happen.  
ACDC area too was quiet. Unusually quiet. One might almost say dead quiet.  
No Navis were in sight at all. Even the usually handful of Programs were down to just one at the exit to ACDC Area 2.  
"Lan..."  
"I see it too, MegaMan."  
"I've got a bad feeling about this."  
"Be careful." There was a long silence. "Sorry," Lan mumbled. "Habit."  
"No viruses either," MegaMan commented as he made his way toward the other side of the area. He paused at the Program. "Hey, is something happening?" he asked it.  
It didn't respond. In fact it didn't move at all.  
He tapped it on the head. There was still no response.  
"Maybe we should go on and see if there's something ahead causing it," Lan told him nervously.  
ACDC 2 was exactly the same. One Program only, and no response. 3 was no better either.  
It was eerie, going around the net without seeing a single Navi or virus, nothing but the single Program in each area. It was like walking through a ghost town.  
Scilab's Homepage, like their own, was some small traffic, but also like their own, was hardly as busy as usual.  
At least ProtoMan was there as they'd expected, though it looked like something was bothering him, his normally calm expression – or what could be seen of it – clearly troubled.  
"You're early," he greeted them laconically.  
"Is there something going on?"  
"That's odd. I was about to ask you the same. Chaud and I can't get in touch with anyone. It's like the entire phone and mail networks are down."  
"I think something strange is happening on the main net too. We didn't see anyone at all on the way here, just a few Programs, and even they made no response."  
"That's impossible."  
"See for yourself," MegaMan replied, pointing back at the link onto the net.  
ProtoMan stood stunned when he saw it himself.  
"Chaud, are you seeing this?"  
"Of course I am," his voice replied tensely. "Something's wrong."  
"You don't say?" Lan muttered. "Maybe it has to do with the suspicious lack of anyone around except us?"  
Chaud ignored that. "Go to Scilab 2. There's some strange readings coming from there."  
"Strange? Isn't this strange enough?"  
"Stranger," he amended.  
At first glance, there was nothing different. On closer inspection, it was noted that the only difference was a small, dark circle on the floor. It looked like a homepage link, but not like any seen before.  
MegaMan shared a glance with ProtoMan, then shrugged, stepping onto it with the comment, "Someone's got to be brave enough to try it."  
He vanished. For a few moments, the Lan's view remained the same, then changed to a new area, one he'd never seen before. It looked like a town. Shortly after, ProtoMan joined them.  
"Another Vision Burst?" he asked.  
"I don't think so," MegaMan replied. "It doesn't look the same. It resembles ACDC slightly, but it's not quite right."  
There was a store by the park, similar to Higsby's, but it was owned by someone else who stood at the counter. Instead of chips, the woman behind the counter seemed to deal in odd looking cards instead.  
The houses nearby looked relatively normal, though there were odd looking antenna atop each.  
Even the school nearby had one. The school itself was also resemblant of the schools Lan knew, both the one in ACDC, and the one in Cyber City. Like everything else here though, it was clearly different.  
None of the people around paid even the slightest bit of attention to them. It was as if they weren't even there.  
Finally, they headed up some stairs beside the school, and the bus stop outside it. They led to an area above the rest, with a viewing platform and another park. In one corner was an old steam train.  
Stood looking up at a starry sky was a human boy, dressed in red and black, and with hair spiked back. There was an odd device on one wrist, and he wore goggles that looked more like a visor with a light-blue sheen.  
He didn't seem to notice them join him at all. Not at first, at least, as they drew close, he frowned slightly, looking around, but apparently not seeing them.  
Then the boy pulled the goggles down from his head, looking through them. He definitely saw them now.  
"Oh," he said. "You're here. I wasn't expecting you." They shared a puzzled look, to which he continued, "Well, I was expecting you. Just not now. I'm meant to give something to one of you." He searched himself, then from a pocket he pulled out a small dark sphere, only a couple of inches in diameter, and dark in the same way that the link they'd followed to get here. He handed it to MegaMan.  
"What is it?"  
"I don't know. I'm only human."  
"If you're human, how can you see us?" ProtoMan asked.  
"I'm not meant to talk about it. I _am_ real, though, that I can assure you. I'm just not meant to explain anything around here. Only give him that, and tell you to go back. No one else will be able to see you here, so I wouldn't worry about being seen. Just don't get too curious on the way back. I don't want to have to do anything to either of you." He half turned back to his stargazing, the paused, glancing back and adding, "Nothing personal intended, by the way."  
"That's it? The entire net just shut down to give you this?"  
"There's probably a good reason behind it," MegaMan told him, already turning to leave.  
"Wouldn't it be best to find out why first?"  
"Of course. Just as soon as you tell me how to go about it."  
"We could start by jacking out, and having Lan go to Scilab."  
"Can't do that," Chaud broke in, ending his long silence. "There's something blocking us from doing that. You'll have to come back to the regular net first."  
In the park, stood between them and the link back stood someone familiar. MegaMan found himself looking... at himself.  
"Hand me the Orb," the second one told him. "I can prevent the trouble it will cause."  
"I'm being confronted by me again," he sighed. "That's more than suspicious enough."  
"You don't understand. You have to trust me."  
"You've given me no reason to."  
"I don't have time to."  
"Tough luck then."  
"Don't hold me responsible for what happens next."  
"_We_ won't," ProtoMan retorted.  
The second MegaMan merely nodded, then left through the link.  
"Well that was strange," Lan murmured. "Time to go back?"  
ProtoMan left first. MegaMan glanced at the sphere he carried, then followed.  
Lan's view flickered several times, then stabilized again, showing the link and ProtoMan. MegaMan was nowhere to be seen.  
There followed several tense moments, then on his screen flicked up an error not seen by any operator since before even he'd been born.  
'Terminal Transmission Error'


	2. Lan: Life as Normal?

**A/N:** From this point on, the chapters alternate between Lan and MegaMan. Sometimes they'll overlap slightly, and give you the other's point of view on the same event.  
Unless otherwise noted though, they'll alternate in order, starting with Lan here.

* * *

'Terminal Transmission Error'  
An error message not seen for years.  
In the earlier days, when the PET and Navi were relatively new, the network often had trouble handling the load. It wasn't designed for this kind of use originally, and had to be extensively redesigned in order to support it properly.  
Until that had happened though, unreliable connections were commonplace. Usually though, it just meant a temporary loss of connection from one's Navi, giving a 'Transmission Error', but once in a while, 'Terminal' would be added. In this case, your connection, and in most cases Navi, was toast.  
Those days were long gone now, however. No one could remember the last time there was a recorded case of either.  
So it was with a mixture of surprise, apprehension and a sinking feeling in his stomach that Lan saw this message, frozen to his chair, uncertain of what to do. How long he sat there, he could not be sure.  
It was broken only by the sudden feeling that everything had moved. Nothing had even so much as wobbled, however.  
Instincts told him to look about to be sure, however, and ensure everything was safe. A few things seemed out of place, but he couldn't put his finger on why. Everything _looked_ normal, even he looked exactly the same as a few moments ago, but there was definitely something that wasn't the same. If only he could tell what it was-  
"Is something wrong, Lan?" the voice interrupted his chain of thought, coming from his PET, but it wasn't MegaMan speaking.  
A Navi he didn't recognise, looking for all the world like he belonged there in the now white PET, looked concerned. It looked human, and bore some resemblance to himself, but older. Like MegaMan, it was blue, but only on the lower half – the upper was bare but for a simple sleeveless white shirt, behind which were a pair of matching wings.  
He couldn't explain why, but he knew the name of this Navi – Angel.  
"You look worried," Angel continued. "Is something bothering you?"  
"What happened? There was an error..."  
"Yes, I managed to leave only just in time."  
A name stuck in his mind though, someone familiar, someone he should remember, but all he had was the name. "What about MegaMan..."  
"The other Navi? What of him?"  
"What happened to him?"  
"I assume he is still in the area, if he hasn't already left to go about his own business. A Navi without an operator cannot leave the net, remember."  
"No operator," Lan echoed.  
"Don't you remember? He said so himself."  
"Uh... yeah, I guess I forgot."  
"That's not like you."  
"Remind me of what happened? Just to make sure I've got it straight."  
"Of course. You met that blue Navi on our homepage. He told you there was a link he wanted to investigate, but wasn't strong enough to do so alone, so we agreed to help him. He lead us to Scilab area 2, where we encountered a strange link. On the other side was a strange town area, infested with viruses. After we fought them off, we met an apparently human boy, who handed him an orb. He thanked us, then we left, and it was then we experienced a transmission error."  
"And you got back to the PET after it passed," Lan continued for him, starting to remember these events himself now he was hearing them.  
"That's right."  
"Huh. Guess that's a good deed for the day done then."  
"You could do another one and clean up downstairs. Dad's due home in a couple of hours, remember."  
"He is?" Angel nodded. Lan shook his head with a sheepish grin, "I guess I got a bit rattled by that error popping up and gave myself some amnesia."  
"It'll pass. If the copybot in the cupboard is charged up, I can give you a hand." He grinned slightly and added, "To make sure you don't forget anything else!"  
Working together, the house was cleaned and tidy before Dad had returned. While they waited for him, Lan turned his attention to some issues still nagging at him.  
"Where's Mom?" he asked, sprawling into a chair. Angel had refused a seat himself, instead sitting cross-legged on the floor.  
"I couldn't say," he replied. "Dad said she left yesterday for something important, and that was all he knew."  
"That doesn't sound like her."  
"I know. Don't worry about her though. I'm sure she'll be safe. Dad alerted the officials; they'll keep an eye out for her."  
"Some comfort that is," he snorted  
"Just because we keep dealing with the larger incidents when they get out of their depth, doesn't mean they're bad at what they do," Angel replied in a sentious tone.  
"Coulda fooled me. How many times could they possibly have stood up to it?"  
"You've got a point there," he conceded. "They weren't any match for some of our opponents, and I doubt any of them would have handed Nebula's net takeover better than we did. They could at least have acknowledged us as officials too afterwards," he sniffed. "Doing their work for them like that."  
"Now who's accusing them of being bad at their job?"  
"Well, if you hadn't stepped in and started ordering them around to get the information you needed, let alone track down worthy allies to fight with us, nothing would ever have got done."  
Something bothered Lan about this too, something about a boy named Chaud, but he remembered nothing about this boy but that name. He remembered clearly the events Angel was telling him about, but like other things, there was something out of place about them.  
He put this feeling down to after-effects of seeing the error, since many things seem to cause this feeling now. Still, it was bothering him, so...  
"Angel, does anything seem... wrong, at all?"  
"Wrong? In what way?"  
"I dunno... just some things don't quite feel right to me for some reason."  
"An example?"  
"MegaMan. The other Navi. For some reason I feel like I should know him better."  
Angel shrugged, "I don't see how. You'd never met him until today."  
"It's not just that either, when you mentioned Nebula's takeover, I remembered a name of someone, but I don't know them at all."  
"What name?"  
"Chaud."  
"I think I heard that name somewhere. Maybe we can find out more up at Marine Harbour tomorrow."  
"Why not today?"  
Angel nodded toward the door. As Lan glanced over, his Dad came on in, looking slightly distracted, as he always did when something was on his mind.  
"Hey boys," he greeted them, looking around. "You've done a nice job tidying up. Mom will be proud to hear you've done it so well."  
"It was easy," Lan replied airily. "Nothing to it at all."  
"Glad to hear it. If you don't mind though, I need to examine Angel for a few moments. There was an error reported on the net earlier today, and he was seen there, so I'd like to make sure there's nothing wrong with him."  
"Sure thing, Dad. Just let me send him back to the PET for you."  
Neither of them mentioned anything about it while he examined the PET and Angel, humming and muttering to himself. Eventually, he seemed satisfied, and handed it back.  
"It looks like you're in perfect shape," he told them. "Just remember to be careful Lan, you know I can't replace Angel if he gets deleted."  
"I know, I know, one of a kind Navi that can't be backed up. Why did you make it like that?"  
"It's hard to explain without getting too complicated."  
"Well, what can you tell me about it?"  
"Some of the code is too complex to duplicate safely. The only time we tried it, there were widespread issues in the systems we were using, so we stopped trying. Now, what do you say to some dinner?"  
Lan's stomach grumbled it's vote in favour of that.


	3. MegaMan: Missing Links

MegaMan sat up, groaning and clutching at an ache on one side of his head.  
Once it had passed, he looked around. He was still in the park of the odd town, and it was still night – the stars were still out, at least - but the link was gone.  
Looking at it this time though, he could see a network of paths glowing in the air, and programs – or at least what looked like programs – going about their business on them. The humans around him paid no attention to them, as if they couldn't even perceive the sights and sounds he now could.  
He reached his other hand to the ground to push himself up, then noticed it still held the sphere he'd been given. It was now about twice the size it had been before, and instead of being a smoky grey colour, it now looked like a tiny world was held inside it. Through the clouds, he could make out towns, cities, roads and other features.  
"I thought you were going to lay there all night," someone behind him said. It sounded like the boy who'd handed him the sphere. He turned, expecting to see him, but instead saw someone that resembled both the boy, and himself.  
He looked like a Navi, and wore the same blue as he did, but with yellow stripes down the sides, and his left hand looked more like a second, smaller, head, sprouting bright blue plumes around the wrist that flickered like a fire. Over his eyes was red visor, and there was black hair, spiked up from behind the back of the helmet.  
"You're looking a little puzzled," he continued. "Maybe it's because I look different now?"  
"You're... you gave me the sphere."  
"Yeah, that's right. I figured it'd be easier to talk like this, so no one else can hear us, rather than having me look like I'm talking to thin air."  
"Why not?" the second head said then. "You used to talk to me all the time, when no one could see me."  
"Yeah, not in sight of anyone else though, or at least quiet enough that no one would have suspected," the boy replied.  
MegaMan just looked from the head to the boy, trying to make sense of it.  
"You might want to explain it to him, Geo," the head sighed.  
"Oh, right. I'm Geo. This is... well, even I can't say his name right, so I just call him Mega."  
"It's Omega-Xis," the head added. "And I'm the reason he looks like this. I fuse with him, and he changes from the human boy you met before, to this."  
"And what are you?" he asked the head.  
"It's complicated. I'm something similar to you, but in these parts I'm not strong enough to go around by myself, so Geo borrows my power by fusing, and he gets to be something similar to you instead. Whatever you are."  
"Uh-huh... so why am I still here?"  
"That's another one for Geo."  
"Me? You said you were going to handle the questions!"  
"I changed my mind."  
"You can't just do that without telling me!"  
"Sure I can. I just did."  
"Mega..." Geo sighed in exasperation. "Alright, whatever. You're here still because you hold the world in your hand."  
"Yeah, I can see that, but what does it mean?"  
"That world – the one you can see in the orb – really is the world. Not this one, where we are, this is-"  
"Geo!" Mega snapped warningly.  
"I know, I know!" he snapped back. "I can't tell you about this one," he continued, glaring down at Mega. "Anyway, your one is contained in the orb."  
"Why me?"  
"I've no idea."  
"Can't I go back?"  
"Not directly. I can't remember exactly how. Mega will tell you." He glared down again. "Won't he?"  
"Why of course, Geo, I don't know what gave you the idea I wouldn't," Mega replied. "Put simply, you have to influence your world indirectly instead."  
"How is that meant to get me back?"  
"Simple. Your world has been altered slightly by your departure from it. You have to work with those changes, and what people still notice of them, to make them realise the truth. Only when they find out each of the changes, and realise you're missing, can you find the way back."  
"Great," MegaMan muttered sardonically. "Puzzles. Just what I like most."  
"Stop complaining," Mega told him. "It's not as if you've any choice in it."  
"Well, what did you pick me for?"  
"He didn't," Geo murmured. "Neither did I. We don't really know all that much either. We were just told to give that to you. After you left, we got told what you needed to know."  
"By who?"  
"He didn't give his name. He stayed pretty well hidden too."  
"Great," he repeated. "So how am I meant to influence things?"  
"I've no idea. Apparently that's one of the things we're meant to leave up to you to discover. In the mean time, you're welcome to stay with us at my home. Only me and Mega can see you."  
"You're forgetting your girlfriend, Geo," Mega told him  
"She's not my girlfriend!"  
"Whatever you say."  
"Well, she isn't... but yeah, Sonia is her name, and she's got Harp with her."  
"Harp's like me," Mega explained. "But obviously, she fuses with Sonia rather than Geo. Which is a shame. I think he'd look pretty good in pink, don't you?"  
"Mega!" Geo's face had turned red.  
"Reminds me of someone I know," MegaMan said to himself. "I suppose I should try to figure out what I'm meant to do with this," he said then, holding up the orb.  
"Whatever you like. Mega will be able to see you even when we're not fused, so you'll always have some way of talking to me if you need."  
"You're not sticking around?"  
"No. I like to stargaze at this hour for a bit."  
"I'll leave you to it."  
Geo nodded, then headed back up toward where they'd first met. MegaMan took a seat on a nearby bench, and stared into the orb, trying to think how it'd work.  
His thoughts were distracted though, and he began to wonder how Lan was doing.  
The orb appeared to react to that, zooming in on the globe within, into Electopia, then ACDC town, Lan's house, then inside. Lan was in his room, talking to his PET, which was now white, he noted.  
Perhaps the orb focused on what he was thinking about?  
He tried thinking about hearing what was going on.  
"... don't see how," a voice he didn't recognise said from the PET.  
"I can't explain it," Lan replied to it. "I just know there's some kind of connection."  
"He's just an independent Navi, Lan."  
"I know, that's bothering me. I feel like that's wrong, somehow."  
MegaMan focused his thoughts on changing the view so he could see it's screen, and the orb complied. On it was a strange angel-like Navi that bore a slight resemblance to both him and Lan.  
"Maybe we should track him down and see what he has to say for himself?"  
"I wouldn't even know where to stay looking, Angel," Lan shook his head. "A Navi without an operator is difficult to find even when they're not trying to hide."  
"The officials listen to us, Lan. If nothing else, they'll tell us what they have on him."  
"Tomorrow," he yawned. "It's getting late."  
"Would you mind hooking the PET up to the net before you go to sleep? I'd like to see if I can do something to help out tomorrow."  
"Alright, but be careful Angel, without me to operate you..."  
"I know. I'll be back to wake you up in the morning too."  
MegaMan watched Lan connect up the PET and go to sleep, then reoriented on Angel.  
Angel appeared to be a rarity among Navis. Very rarely was one made that hovered, like ElecMan, and rarer still were ones that had the capability to fly freely.  
Angel was one of those rare ones, gliding above all others easily. Few viruses could fly, so he had a relatively untroubled flight from ACDC area to SciLab.  
MegaMan found that sometimes his thoughts seemed to affect what happened. When he thought of a flying virus he'd once found, one that looked like a cloud with an umbrella, Angel was forced to hover in mid air to fight off a sudden appearance of those same viruses.  
He experimented a bit more when Angel flew lower, creating more viruses with a few more thoughts. Remembering Lan's warning to Angel, and that Lan still thought Angel was his Navi, he kept it to the weaker viruses so he wouldn't be in any danger.  
He was forced to stop creating them at the SciLab homepage. Homepages were protected from viruses, and the appearance of any there was always investigated. While he'd be happy to have the world find him again, that wasn't the way he wanted to be found.  
Angel found one of the many official Navis that patrolled the page, holding a quiet conversation with him. He mentioned MegaMan and Chaud's names to him, and asked if they could have information on them ready at Marine Harbour for the morning where he and Lan would pick it up.  
MegaMan tried something else now, moving his view to just outside the homepage, and tried to send himself there.  
The result was a curious double-view, one overlaying the other. On one view was the same one he'd had before, looking into the orb with the bench and Geo's world around him.  
The other was that of a view as if he was really there. He quickly glanced over himself, and verified, yes, he was back. Kind of.  
He found he was limited in his abilities, very weak in comparison to usual. He'd need trouble managing anything like this if he got into trouble.  
His thoughts were interrupted again when Angel came through the link.  
"Angel," he greeted his brother's new Navi. "You've been looking for me?"  
"MegaMan. I'm surprised to see you here. Last time I saw you was right after I helped you with that link earlier."  
MegaMan probed gently with a few thoughts, and found Angel's memory of the event. Of course, he'd appeared to be too weak to investigate it, which was why he had called on Angel. Angel was now the one that had the reputation he and Lan had earned, so naturally they were often sought out to help with things like this.  
"I had heard you wanted to ask me something," he shrugged. "You're not exactly hard to find, so I came looking."  
"You didn't run into any trouble, did you?"  
"What? Oh, no. I'm fine."  
Angel nodded, seemingly true to his name, a Guardian Angel. He hovered low to stay with MegaMan walking along.  
"Actually, it's my operator that wanted to talk to you, not me, but I know what he wants to ask."  
"Oh?"  
"He feels like he knows you. Better than he does, I mean."  
"Did he say why?"  
"Just a feeling. There was another name he mentioned too, one he said he felt he should know. A boy named Chaud?"  
"I know him."  
On his first view, the one of everything, he concentrated on finding Chaud. He found him on a street, apparently homeless and worse for wear. Trying to find ProtoMan turned up nothing.  
A brief search through Chaud's memories showed that in this altered reality, about the same time his mother had passed away, his father had become more demanding of him, asking more until Chaud left of his own accord, and subsequently found that life on his own wasn't as easy. ProtoMan, the Navi so feared in the darkest reaches of the UnderNet... never existed. Chaud had never programmed him.  
"Can you think of any link between Lan and this Chaud?"  
"Not unless they've met," he replied. Remembering Mega's words, he decided to try something. "You might want to track him down though. I hear he has a knack for programming."  
"What makes you think I need a programmer?"  
"Give him a chance. See what he comes up with."  
"And you?"  
"What about me?"  
"What link is there between you and Lan?"  
"Nothing. Just the link earlier. Thanks for your help with that, by the way. I never got to say it earlier."  
"But you didn't find what you were looking for."  
"No matter. I'll find it eventually."  
"Perhaps I can help?" Angel asked as they entered ACDC area. "If you could be more specific about what you're looking for... I mean, 'a small dark sphere' isn't much to go on."  
"Don't worry yourself over it, Angel. Just..." he trailed off.  
"Yes?"  
"Take care of Lan. I'll see you around. Maybe."  
MegaMan brought himself back to his single view outside, watching Angel again.  
He'd remained still, evidently deep in thought, then jacked out.  
Once again carefully examining what Angel was thinking, MegaMan found that the idea had taken hold, just as he'd wanted. They'd go looking for a homeless boy named Chaud in the morning.


	4. Lan: Two Strange Boys

"Good morning. Sleep well?"  
"Yeah. I think."  
"Something bothering you?"  
"I kept thinking of MegaMan again."  
"I saw him last night, actually."  
"You didn't wake me?"  
"I didn't want to bother you," he replied, while Lan busied himself getting up. "I knew what you wanted to ask him anyway."  
"What did he say?"  
"Not much. He told me a little about Chaud, thanked me about earlier. Asked me to take care of you."  
"Him?" Lan seemed surprised.  
"Strange, I know. It sounded like he knew you better than we thought."  
"Maybe there is some kinda connection then?"  
"I don't know. He was hiding something, that's for sure. Are you ready?"  
"Breakfast, Angel. Can't go anywhere without having breakfast."  
"I should have guessed."

Lan ate his breakfast quick, as he always did, made Dad a morning coffee, then left for Marine Harbour. Being a man-made island, there were only two ways to reach it, the Metroline or by ship.  
The Metroline was preferable, as it was quicker. Even at this relatively early hour, it was packed with people going to work, and those on the night shift going back home again. Marine Harbour was open all the time, so the line to it was always busy.  
As usual, Lan tuned out along the way, paying attention only enough to keep himself out of other people's way, and keep his balance. He always preferred to stand when it was busy, other people often needed a seat more than he did, and he didn't mind it really.  
Marine Harbour's station was as busy, if not more so, than the route itself. People packed the platforms, making it difficult to get to the escalators. Several times, commuters in a hurry pushed past him, most hurriedly apologising before dashing off again.  
Busy or not, it wasn't impossible to get back outside into the streaming sunlight at the Harbour.  
"At least it's quieter out here," Lan said, taking a breath of fresh air, untainted with some of the less pleasant smells inside.  
"Quiet here usually means something is happening though," Angel replied.  
"You're a pessimist," he accused.  
"At least that way, if something turns out well it's a nice surprise. We should go on inside, Lan. I asked them to have everything waiting for us."  
"If they have anything useful."  
"Pessimist," Angel teased.  
"Told you so," Lan told him quietly as they approached the desk. There was a folder waiting on it that looked quite thin.  
"It might not be ours."  
"With 'Hikari' written on it? Dad's not working, remember."  
"Point."  
The receptionist further confirmed this by handing it to him even while continuing to talk to person beside them. Multitasking became second nature to anyone who worked these desks.  
"Well?" Angel asked.  
"Give me a few moments to read it."  
There were only two sheets inside. Apparently they were right to suspect them of having very little.  
The first detailed what was known about MegaMan. An independent Navi known for appearing seemingly out of nowhere, and disappearing just as quickly. He'd been spotted not far from many incidents they'd been involved in, and had been suspected of having unconfirmed links to all of those involved in them. Attempts to track or find him had returned nothing.  
Chaud's page was slightly more detailed, but not by much. His mother had died when young, and his father, the president of a large multinational corporation, had pressed him into taking on a job at the corporation. Chaud had apparently found this difficult to manage around his education and dealing with the loss of his mother, becoming increasingly more noticeable as his work quality began to worsen. His father eventually had to ask him to leave, unable to even use family ties to overlook it. With his father being at home very rarely, Chaud was left to his own devices. He avoided his father as they frequently broke into loud arguments, which may have been the cause of his leaving home of his own accord. The real reasons weren't known for certain.  
Since then, little has been known of his activities. His father didn't bother to look for him, let alone help. Sightings of him were few and far-between, the most recent being in a built up urban part of the nearby ElecTown, a little over a week ago.  
"Depressing," Lan commented, filling Angel in.  
"You'd think his father would have done a bit more for him instead of just pushing a job on him."  
"Or at least given him time to recover from it."  
"At least there's something useful in it."  
"Yeah, a recent sighting. Not very though."  
"It's a start. Do we have a picture of him?"  
"Not a recent one. His staff photo from before he was forced to leave is here though. Dark hair dyed white, wearing black and red."  
"That's probably changed by now. The dye won't have lasted this long, that's for sure. Where in ElecTown?"  
"It doesn't say specifically." Lan looked back at the folder, spotting something he hadn't before, and could have sworn wasn't there before. "There's a chip here too. Probably the same information for you."  
"Plug it in anyway, I'll have a glance through it."  
Lan waited a few moments, re-reading the file on Chaud to memorize it.  
"It's a clip from a security camera, dated yesterday night," Angel told him finally.  
"Showing?"  
"Chaud, of course. Unless he's moved, he's sleeping in a back alley not far from the Jomon store."  
"A back alley? Out of all places to stay, he picked a back alley?"  
"Look at it from his point of view. He probably doesn't have much, and doesn't want to get in anyone's way. Few people go down places like that, so he's practically guaranteed privacy, some degree of protection and isn't likely to cause trouble."  
"I guess I never thought of that."  
"You've never been in his position."  
"Neither have you."  
"No, but it does fit."  
"Guess we should make our way there then. Will you be able to tell which alley?"  
"I'll have to see them to be able to tell, but I think I'll manage. The clip was fairly detailed."  
They handed back the folder to the receptionist. It'd be refiled. Unknown to any of them, the chip inside disappeared again, as if it had never been there in the first place.

Some time later, Lan stood looking down a street in ElecTown.  
"Any ideas?"  
"I'm working on it. I'm just trying to find some kind of landmark, something I recognise from the clip. Carry on down the street Lan, it might help."  
"I'm starting to think this is a wild goose chase, Angel."  
"How so?"  
"You just happen to run into MegaMan last night, who just happens to mention Chaud, and now we just happen to have a sighting of him from last night... that's a lot of coincidences."  
"I think I just found one more unlikely coincidence."  
"What's that?"  
"I've found where the camera that took the clip should be."  
"Should be?"  
"Above that intersection ahead."  
"There's nothing there."  
"I know. It'd be impossible to have a camera there, let alone keep it as still as the clip is."  
"A trap?"  
"It could be. There's only one possible alleyway it showed though."  
"I see it."  
"Be careful Lan."  
Warily, he approached and glanced down the alley.  
Since it was between two food joints, the alleyway was filled with overflowing bins, bags that showed evidence of being torn open, and trash from them littered around. It left a distinctly unpleasant smell in the air.  
Behind some of the bins were stacks of boxes. Many of them showed evidence of having been rained on, with the lettering stained and running. They also looked as if a passing wind had just scattered them randomly around.  
"There's definitely someone here," Angel murmured quietly.  
Lan said nothing. He could move quietly, but speaking quietly wasn't his best point.  
He moved up the alley, listening hard. There was a faint snuffling sound from under the boxes.  
Quietly he shifted several aside, stacking them beside a door. Underneath them, curled up in a somewhat bedraggled tartan cloth, was a boy with dark hair. Just visible was a dark shirt, peeking out from under the cloth with him. He looked to be asleep, and quite dirty. Rather astonishingly, Lan found that the boy smelled worse than the rest of the alleyway.  
He glanced down at Angel, who shrugged, so he crouched nearby, and said, "Uh... excuse me? Wake up please?"  
"You could shake him," Angel sighed, when this had no effect.  
"But... he's all..."  
"You're worried about a little dirt?"  
"Well, no..."  
He didn't need to do so though. Chaud stirred, then quickly pulled away.  
"It wasn't me!" he told them. "I didn't do anything!"  
"I wasn't saying you were," Lan told him.  
"Oh... well, you can't have anything, I don't have anything to give."  
"I wasn't going to ask for anything either."  
"What do you want then?"  
"Well, I thought I'd offer you someplace to stay," Lan said, straightening up again. "And maybe a shower and a decent meal, but if you're not interested..."  
Chaud considered it. "What's the catch?"  
"No catch."  
"There's always a catch."  
"Consider this," someone said from behind them. Lan stood aside to see someone looking remarkably like him, but dressed in blue pants and a matching shirt. "Would you continue living like this Chaud? They offer you a home and all you need to get back on your feet. Then you can go your own way, and not have to go back to this."  
"Why should I believe you any more than them?"  
"Haven't you said, every night before you try to sleep, that you wish you didn't have to go through this?" Chaud's eyes widened at this. "Consider it carefully. If you won't believe me, you can believe them. They're good people."  
"Wait," Lan called as the strange boy turned to leave. "Who are you?"  
"Me? Oh... I'm Hub. I'll see you around. Maybe."  
Now it was Angel's turn to look after the boy with wide eyes.


	5. MegaMan: A Learning Curve

"Wasn't that a little risky?"  
MegaMan looked up from the orb, and his self-satisfied look, and saw a large blue creature that seemed made from the same bright blue plumes as Mega did, and even had the same head.  
"So that's what you look like when not fused with Geo?" he asked, recognising Mega.  
"Yes. You didn't answer my question."  
"What risk do you think I took?"  
"Angel recognised you. You said the exact same words as when you left him."  
"He won't suspect anything. Maybe a connection between MegaMan and Hub, but no more."  
"Oh really? You used the exact same voice and tone. He definitely recognised you."  
"It doesn't matter much."  
"I think it's time for me to show you something. Come with me."  
Mega led them to the edge of town, and a small shack with a computer in. There was a small spinning orange disk above it.  
"What is that?"  
"A cyberspace access. Geo and I have come here many times before, but it's denied us entry. Last night, when the stranger who gave us the Orb for you stopped by, he explained why. It's meant for you."  
"What's inside then?"  
"I don't know for certain. All he said was that it would show a possibility. A small fraction of a possible future for your world, based on what you're doing. Just touch that disk to access it. I'll wait here."  
"You're certain?"  
"Of course not. But so far everything he said has been true."  
MegaMan considered this for a moment, then touched the disk, vanishing into the cyberspace.  
Mega waited patiently. Geo knew he was gone, he was in no hurry.  
Just moments later, MegaMan reappeared, bolted out of the shack and made retching sounds.  
Mega didn't move, waiting still. He'd be back in a moment.  
"Not good news?" he asked when he reappeared, looking disturbed, with a haunted look to his eyes. He leaned on the side of the shack, staring into the ground.  
"Monstrous!" he managed weakly, shaking his head. "Absolutely monstrous."  
"That doesn't sound good."  
"It's horrible," MegaMan said.  
"I'm guessing it wasn't then. I think I know why you saw whatever you saw."  
"Monstrous," he repeated, apparently oblivious.  
"Are you listening to me?" Mega asked him, rapping one fist on the side of MegaMan's helmet.  
"What? Sorry. Go on."  
"You've got the world in your hand – literally. You have the power to influence it in a very god-like way. You could be a benevolent god, or a harsh god. People will react to either, and act on it, react to it."  
"I could never make people fear me though."  
"Don't bet on it. I've been watching you. You've concentrating on just a few people. Before long, others will notice what Angel has, and see that the coincidences are divine intervention, of a kind. What then? There'll be followers. Then come the prayers. They'll expect you to answer, and when you lash out at something, they'll assume they've displeased you. Now imagine you reacted like that to everything that you didn't like or things that don't go your way."  
"I'd be thought of as a harsh deity, wouldn't I?"  
"Exactly. Be careful of what choices you make in your world. You could find a way back. Or you could be a benevolent god, or a malevolent god. But whatever you do... make sure you know what will happen."  
"Thanks Mega," he said, not feeling it.  
"What I'm here for. I'm heading on back to town."  
MegaMan nodded, still not looking up.  
"Horrible," he repeated again. Whatever he'd seen clearly haunted him.

MegaMan had returned to town, taking a seat on a bench up at Vista point, the same place Geo liked to stargaze in the evenings. Several times he'd checked up on his brother and Chaud, but not acted on it. He didn't want to risk anything around them now that Angel was more aware, much less things turning out how he'd seen.  
He had, however quietly influenced other events around the world. Just as he didn't want to be seen as a harsh god, he also didn't want to draw attention to himself, and have people start thinking of him as a good god either. He didn't want to become a god at all.  
Some of the influences were good, others, though he was left with a guilty conscious from it, weren't. He wasn't proud of either, but he'd decided it was better to be even handed.  
Finally, he gave in again and checked up on Lan. Even if he didn't realise it, Lan was still his brother, and operator, and he still felt responsible for keeping him out of trouble if he could.  
He found he didn't have to worry much. Chaud had given in earlier and gone with him, much to the detriment to anyone they met along the way. Lan had at least persuaded him to have a long shower, and found something for him to wear after. It was a far cry from his usual look as MegaMan knew it, but it was a start, at least. He didn't look right without his hair dyed white though.  
Angel, on the other hand, bothered him. He'd said increasingly little since MegaMan's appearance as Hub, and Mega's warning – and what he'd seen – worried him all the more. He'd gone back and watched Angel as he'd left, and clearly saw the recognition dawn on him.  
He didn't seem inclined to do anything about it just yet though, which was at least some consolation, and gave him time to try to persuade Angel that the two weren't the same person after all.  
He was tempted to find out what they were up to again, but decided against it, turning his attention away again. As usual when his attention wasn't focused on the orb or his world, it returned to a view from orbit, showing some of the satellites also in orbit, the terminator between day and night, and the clouds covering the world.  
MegaMan stared into the orb for some time, watching time pass, then had an idea in part inspired from Angel's efforts to help Chaud.  
Lan had just started 7th grade, and Angel had arranged for Chaud to go with him. Chaud had insisted on being in the same class as Lan. He apparently had trouble making friends easily, so wanted to have Lan around so he wouldn't feel left out. MegaMan appreciated the sentiment from his brother, it was unexpected, but in character for him.  
MegaMan, or rather his human part in Hub, was known so far only to the three of them, and only Angel suspected there were any ties between Hub and MegaMan.  
Despite his not wanting to influence things more than he had to, he made the necessary changes, and so there was a second newcomer to Lan's class: Hub.  
Strangely, no one would notice that he didn't seem to have a second name. He could hardly use Hikari, of course – that would be too noticeable. It was much easier to have people conveniently become incurious about the matter.  
He did take a slight risk, in making himself his own Navi. He'd never tried having two avatars in his world, one being Hub of course, and the other MegaMan, and found it slightly disorienting at first. He grew more adept at managing it with a little practice, and even came up with a cover story for anyone curious to know why a supposedly independent Navi now had an operator. With any luck though, it'd persuade Angel that their similarity was just a coincidence, and make him brush it off.  
Next he arranged for a home in ACDC town that was unoccupied to become his own. If nothing else, it'd give Angel one less reason to have suspicions about him. He could handle creating parents if the need arose; until then, he'd manage without.  
A few final changes, this time to his new classmates, and he was as well known to them all – even Lan – as if he'd always been with them. Only Angel was different, as he'd been oddly resistant to his attempts. Finally he concluded he couldn't help that much, and so left it alone.  
Somewhat apprehensively, he settled down both his avatars there to sleep for the night, then climbed a handy tree, got comfortable, and did the same himself. He paused only to nod in passing at Mega as Geo headed off for his nightly stargaze.  
Unlike Lan, MegaMan – or more accurately, his human avatar Hub – didn't oversleep. Actually, he under-slept because of nerves. Though he'd been to school with Lan many times before, actually going himself was completely different.  
One last glance in the mirror to make sure he still looked alright after his breakfast, and he set off toward the school. Aside from living a street over from Lan now, it was exactly the same route. Somehow though, it looked much different now he was the one walking it, and seeing it as his own Navi as well didn't help much.  
He made his way to the classroom without trouble though, managing to hide his nerves as best he could. It was strange to see people talk to and about him as if they'd known him for longer, when in fact they'd never seen him before then.  
Of course, he knew where he was seated. Lan's seat was on the far right, one from the back. His was right behind him. Chaud would have the one beside him, while Dex had the one beside Lan, with Mayl and Yai taking the front. It was the first time since being given the orb he'd seen their friends, and once more he felt uneasy. They didn't know him, at least not the same way as he did.  
Last to arrive, only just missing being late, was of course Lan with Chaud. Angel regarded Hub with a suspicious look, but made no comment. Lan meanwhile shared a brief conversation with Chaud and their teacher, then took his seat, Chaud in tow. Unlike him, Chaud's nerves showed. It wasn't like him, but this was a different Chaud to the one he knew, he reminded himself.  
"Hi," he said as Chaud took his own seat. He just nodded back, apparently not trusting himself to answer. That was the Chaud he knew – not a social kind of person. This time it was for entirely different reasons.  
At that point though, class started, and he found himself taking his first ever lesson in a school, instead of being the one helping Lan. Not long after, he was starting to wonder if he'd really had such a good idea in doing this.


	6. Lan: Fiery Suspicion

**A/N: **What did MegaMan see in the last chapter, I hear some people ask. Be patient, dear readers. In due time, all the things MegaMan sees in that interesting little link will be revealed, but for now, enjoy the next part of the story.

* * *

Angel hovered high above the Plaza.  
The Plaza was a relatively new addition to the school's network. Where during breaks the students would often go outside or just generally hang out, the Navis would usually stay with them, of course. With the addition of the Plaza, the Navis themselves had a place to do the same.  
Angel was looking for one specific Navi, one that would stand out easily. He was a clearly customized Navi, despite his apparently normal appearance.  
He was, of course, looking for MegaMan.  
Angel spotted him, stood next to a red Navi he didn't know, and swooped low, landing nearby.  
"Angel," MegaMan greeted him. "I was expecting you sooner. This is ProtoMan."  
"Would you excuse us ProtoMan?" Angel asked, not taking his eyes off MegaMan. "I've something I want to discuss with him."  
ProtoMan nodded, leaving them.  
"Way to greet a new Navi, Angel," MegaMan rolled his eyes. "Created by his own operator, did you know that? Pretty much all of him was programmed by Chaud."  
"I'm not interested in him. Just what do you think you're doing, MegaMan, or Hub, or whatever you want to call yourself."  
"Hub?" MegaMan laughed. "No, I'm not Hub. He's just someone remarkably similar to me. He lost his Navi during an error a few days ago, and wasn't likely to get a new one for a while. So I did the nice thing, and became his Navi."  
"You'll forgive me if I don't suspect you of higher motives," Angel replied, apparently not believing this.  
"Oh, I have them, I don't deny it. He knows about them though. I help him, he helps me. More than you have, I might add. I found out more about that orb I was looking for through him than I ever did from you."  
"And?"  
"And what?"  
"What did you find out about it?"  
"Now why would I want to tell you about that?" MegaMan's expression grew amused. "You're a good Navi. You and Lan have helped people out many times. It wouldn't do for you to go looking for something as potentially evil as that. What if people found out about it?"  
"Oh, we'll find it. I don't trust you, MegaMan, and I don't like what you're telling me about this orb. I'll find it, because I don't trust you with it."  
"Have fun then," he replied offhand. "I know where it is already. You don't."  
"Just what are you up to?"  
"You'll see. I'm going looking for ProtoMan. Did I mention he was new already?"  
"Yes. You did," Angel said flatly.  
"You really ought to work on that unsociable attitude, you know," MegaMan told him as he left Angel seething behind.

Lan meanwhile, was looking for Hub. Angel had asked him to find out about the connection between him and MegaMan, and what made him show up when they'd found Chaud.  
Chaud was annoying though. He wasn't sure of himself with so many people he didn't know around, and stuck to Lan, or at least close to him.  
Since he'd taken a look into programming, he'd immediately created himself his own Navi, taking to it like a natural, which had given him some confidence. He didn't have much in the way of self-esteem though, and wouldn't talk to anyone Lan didn't also know.  
Hub, on the other hand, seemed to be almost too confident. He didn't hang around with anyone, instead preferring one corner of the school yard where he could watch everything going on with a satisfied look. It made him look like a god watching over his people.  
"He looks like you," Chaud said quietly, pointing him out.  
"I know. It's probably just coincidence though. No one else is really bothered by it. We look different enough to tell each other apart."  
"Not by much. He wears different stuff. You could be twins otherwise."  
"You could almost say the same about me and Angel though, except he looks older."  
"Or Hub and Angel," Chaud added.  
Lan ignored the now-common feeling there was something wrong when someone mentioned Hub's name. It had happened so many times now it was commonplace, and he paid no attention to it any longer.  
Hub glanced at them as they approached, smiling faintly.  
"I suppose you're here because Angel told you to," he said. "He could have just come to me himself."  
"He wanted to talk to MegaMan," Lan replied. "Anyway, I thought MegaMan was independent?"  
"He was. I lost my Navi though. No chance of getting a new one, then he showed up, told me he didn't have an operator, and we agreed to work together. We make a pretty good team."  
"You look and sound a lot like him."  
"Coincidence," he shrugged. "Bit of a surprise to find a Navi that looks like you. Though you and Angel... well, you probably hear comparisons of you two a lot as it is." He turned to Chaud. "Nice to see you looking better. MegaMan told me you programmed your own Navi."  
"It wasn't hard," Chaud told him. "Still a lot to be done though. He's hardly more advanced than any normal Navi for now."  
"I'm sure you'll handle it fine. Maybe ProtoMan will be a name as well known as Angel's is."  
"Oh, I don't know about that." Chaud looked away, looking awkward. "I don't think I'll be that good."  
"You might be surprised," Hub replied with another knowing smile. "I had a feeling you'd be a decent programmer. It's why I told you to think on Lan's offer."  
"Really?"  
"'natchly," he said, then laughed when they both looked puzzled. "Sorry. It's a habit I picked up somewhere. Which reminds me, I've somewhere to be. See you guys later."

Later, at home, Angel and Lan pooled their information, while Chaud had taken the opportunity to work on his new Navi some more.  
"What do you make of him, Lan?"  
"He's just a normal kid, Angel. I don't see anything out of the ordinary."  
"He didn't explain why he persuaded Chaud to take up our offer – and I wouldn't be surprised to find he had some connection to our going looking in the first place. Then there's his knowledge that Chaud would be a natural programmer, when even Chaud himself didn't know. He's up to something, I'm certain."  
"Maybe it's just something he got from MegaMan? He did say they were working together."  
"They're looking for that orb still. MegaMan slipped up when I was talking to him, he said it was something 'potentially evil' and that doesn't sound good."  
"Why would he be looking for something like that?"  
"Beats me, but I don't think we should just let it go at that."  
"You think if we find it first, we can prevent whatever they're planning? If they're really planning anything," Lan added. "I'm still not convinced of this."  
"Think about it Lan. If we'd known where Wily was hiding any of the times we went up against him, known that he'd survived the last time again, we could have prevented all of his antics. If we'd known that Gospel was being run from Kotobuki town, or that Regal was going to kidnap Dad to take over the net, we could have done something."  
"Alright, alright, don't beat me over the head with it. I get the idea. So where to we start to look?"  
"The link that MegaMan had us help with. Where it all started. Then we retrace his steps, and find out just what he's been up to."  
"Time to go online then," Lan said with a grin. Any opportunity to go online was still welcome even in the face of yet another crisis, Angel noted as he was transmitted to the Net.  
Their homepage was fairly busy, as usual. It was well known to host the largest collection of banners and links to all parts of the net, along with having one of the busiest forums of them all.  
Angel paused to glance through those forums in case there was anything on them of note, but it was all normal, so he went on to the SciLab homepage link, and from there out to the net proper, heading for SciLab 2.  
Being able to fly let him bypass most, if not all, of the normal troubles other Navis faced, but today was apparently different. There seemed to be an infestation of airbourne viruses today, slowing him considerably. Even he was finding some of them challenging to take on.  
"It's as if someone's actively trying to stop us," Lan noted.  
"That's not all," Angel replied as they entered SciLab 2. "The link is gone."  
"That's impossible. Links don't just appear and disappear like that. They just go inactive."  
"It's not a normal link though, remember? We noticed that when we first got there."  
"I think we should go to SciLab itself, and see what they can get us on it."  
"Let's go to Dad. He'll be able to do more than they can."  
"You think?"  
"Who else do we turn to when this sort of thing happens?"  
"Point. Jack out, Angel, and we'll go there now."  
"Roger," he replied, returning.  
Lan poked his head round the door into the spare room, now Chaud's room.  
"We're heading out for a bit, up to SciLab. Are you coming?"  
"Thanks for the offer, but no, I want to see if I can do some more to ProtoMan."  
"Alright. Good luck with that, call us if you need us."  
"I'll remember," he said, returning to the mass of code he'd been working on. Lan didn't understand it himself. He just accepted that someone would, and generally left it at that.  
SciLab's Metroline was quieter than the Marine Harbour one, since it was used primarily by those who worked there only, and they often had a set schedule, putting most of the traffic at peak hours only.  
This gave them a quiet and quick trip there, stopped only be meeting someone familiar as they left the platform for SciLab itself.  
"Match?" Lan murmured. "It is! Hey, Match!"  
"That's_ Mister_ Match!" he called back. "What are you kids doing here?"  
"Oh, you know us, up to no good," Lan quipped.  
"Yeah, sure. If you ever did anything that wasn't good, it was because someone fooled you into it."  
"Like you, you mean?"  
"Hey, I've put that behind me already... again. I'm clean through and through."  
"Isn't that what you said last time too?"  
"Uh... well... that was because I got you to do that... Anyway! I gotta get going. Things to do, places to be. Might see ya around again, Lan. Maybe."  
"I don't trust this," Angel said as Match left. "I don't think he's really put it behind him again. He was acting shifty."  
"You're just too suspicious. Besides, who could he join now? World 3, Gospel, even Nebula are all gone now."  
"Maybe... but what he said just then..."  
"What about it?"  
"What did Hub say when he left, when we found Chaud?"  
"What was it... something like 'I'll see you around – maybe' wasn't it?"  
"Exactly. And when Match left just then..."  
"Maybe you're right and there is something going on..."  
"And I suspect MegaMan is at the heart of it."  
"I still think you're wrong there," Lan replied as the elevator arrived. "And I don't think Hub has anything to do with it either."


	7. MegaMan: The Start of the Plot

"Are you with me or not?" Hub asked Match.  
"You reckon we can't get caught?"  
"Absolutely not. I've got it all covered. I just need you and HeatMan to cover your part."  
"I'm not convinced. Wily said the same thing."  
"I'm not Wily, and I've put a lot of planning into this. Or are you just worried you can't meet what's expected of you?"  
"Don't try and manipulate me. I'll do it."  
"Just watch out for Lan and remember you won't see me at all, only my Navi."  
"I'll disavow any knowledge of you kid. I can handle Lan this time too," Match told him, leaving.  
MegaMan pulled his Hub avatar back as soon as there was no one around, and returned it to his house in ACDC. As far as anyone else knew, that was where Hub had been since he'd gotten home from school. How could he be at SciLab, if there was nothing showing him going there?  
He'd had concerns over his new plan, and like always when did something that was unquestionably wrong, he was left feeling guilty over it, but he'd concluded that it was bound to work.  
Lan had been involved in every incident that had risen in this reality, just as he had been in the original one. There were differences, such as Angel instead of MegaMan, and Lan running the liberation team during Nebula's net takeover instead of Chaud, but it was still him at the centre of it.  
So naturally, in creating a new group, calling people together, and at least appearing to have a plan, the moment Lan and Angel found out about it, they'd be on it, and if he could get it right, they'd find out exactly what he wanted them to, and provide him with a way home again.  
If it worked out right.  
He turned his attention back to the orb, and watched as Match met Lan once more. Angel, of course, got suspicious. Match wasn't very good at hiding when he was up to something, which was the main reason MegaMan had chosen him to set things in motion.  
They then headed off to find out more about the link's disappearance. MegaMan understood now why it had appeared – and why it had disappeared again after. During the time just before he and ProtoMan had gone through it, the two realities had overlapped just enough that the link that the MegaMan from this reality had investigated with Angel, was the same one that ProtoMan investigated with him.  
So far though, he had no explanation for why he'd been confronted by himself, except for a single suspicion that he didn't like the idea of.  
Lan and Angel would be kept out of trouble with their chase after MegaMan, and the orb. Of course they wouldn't find it – MegaMan already had it. It was what started all this. But it had conveniently given him the goal for his plot there. He'd already begun to plan the seeds that would grow useful when the time came for Angel to 'find' the orb. That part was already seen to as well.  
He left them to it, and reoriented on HeatMan and Match, already deep in preparation for tomorrow's event at the school. MegaMan had taken a leaf from when BlastMan had taken over the Cyber City school network. There were differences, but it was the start he wanted. Obvious enough that even Lan would see it.  
Satisfied that they were pulling their part of it, he went in search of the second person he needed.  
The now-ex Prosecutor Ito, and his Navi JudgeMan. JudgeMan had been deleted by him, in this reality by Angel of course, but it was a small matter to revive him and retrieve Ito's PET to deposit him in there. When Ito reactivated his PET, JudgeMan would be waiting for him.  
Next, he went to the cell where Ito was held. Apparently his punishment was a long-term sentence, but this wasn't any concern of MegaMan's, except to tell him where to look.  
As no one had called on Hub at home, he moved Hub to the complex where Ito was, having altered events so that a meeting between him and Ito could take place during visiting hours.  
A few moments with the guard on duty, and he was there in a single room with the glass screen separating them.  
"I don't know you," Ito told him.  
"Not yet you don't. I'm Hub, and I've a need for you, your talents, and your Judge Tree."  
Ito shook his head, "I'm not eligible for bail out, and in any case, I was stripped of my title."  
"I can solve that for you, and get you out of here. How would you like your old life back, without any chance of getting caught this time?"  
"Wait. What about the guards listening?"  
Hub snapped his fingers. At the same time, MegaMan concentrated on the lock to the room, which locked, and the guard present fainted. "You mean that Guard there who's now unconscious, and the others locked out?" he replied with an arched eyebrow.  
Ito stared back in amazement. "How did you..."  
"Not important, Prosecutor. Now, how about I remove those cuffs, and we leave?"  
"We're just going to walk out?"  
"Absolutely."  
"Nothing going to stop us?"  
"Not a chance. I've put a great deal of planning into this. There's no chance you'll be caught at all if you're with me. If not, then I'll still free you, as thanks for listening, but if you choose to act against me... well, I'd be forced to take steps, you understand."  
"Of course... when do we leave?"  
"How about now?" He snapped his fingers again, and the cuffs clicked onto the ledge in front, before vanishing along with the glass screen. Ito stared, amazed again. Hub pulled him to his feet, and calmly led him to the door he'd locked.  
It unlocked at his touch with another thought, allowing them to leave the same way he'd entered. No one so much as turned a hair at Ito following him.  
"That's unnerving," he commented. "Until you showed up, they would have had me back in a cell in no time."  
"I know. I think we'll want to collect your personal effects. I left something for you in your PET."  
"What's that?"  
"You'll see,"Hub told him. MegaMan recalled Ito's reaction to hearing JudgeMan had been deleted when he'd chased down Wily for the third time, and decided it was probably better that he found out about his gift this way. In a way, it was a kind of apology to Ito for what he'd done.  
Ito picked up his belonging,s but at Hub's insistence, didn't activate his PET until outside. He was almost too happy to hear him out after that.  
"It's quite simple Ito," he told the reinstated prosecutor. "I've two projects underway, and I want to minimize interference. Firstly, I'm opening a new area on the net, connected to it by ACDC area 1."  
"You want patrols in effect to keep everyone out until you're ready, right?"  
"Maximum security, Ito. It'll raise suspicions, but there's things that will go on there that I want kept absolutely silent."  
"That's easy. I'll have it done the moment the connection is made."  
"Good. The second isn't so easy. I'm in the process of locating and getting a small orb. It's purple, and holds great power. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee I'll be the first one to it."  
"I'm not certain what you're asking."  
"Anyone who's found to possess anything matching that description is to have it confiscated. Unless it's me, of course. As soon as I've got the exact location of it, I'm sure you'll be able to enforce it better."  
"Now I see. I'll have it done, master Hub."  
"I'd take it kindly if you conveniently forgot my name. In future, you'll hear from my Navi, MegaMan, instead of me."  
"I understand. JudgeMan and I will have it all seen to. You say we can't get caught?"  
"There isn't even the most remote possibility of it. I would, however, warn you to be wary of a certain Lan Hikari. I believe you know him?"  
"Ah... him. He deleted my JudgeMan last time... he won't do it again."  
"Good to hear it. You'll be hearing from my Navi in time. I'll see you around."  
Ito watched Hub walk out of sight, where MegaMan once again moved him back to his home. Moments later, someone knocked the door.  
It turned out to be Lan with Angel.  
"Well isn't this unexpected? What's up?"  
"Angel wanted to know-"  
"Where did you meet MegaMan?" Angel asked, interrupting Lan.  
"Right here. I had been online. Then there was an error, and I lost my Navi. MegaMan just dropped in after that. I could hardly meet him online without a Navi."  
"Why don't you have a homepage, Hub?" Lan asked.  
"I never got around to it," he shrugged. "I never saw much point to it, myself. I just go straight onto the net when I go online."  
"You know MegaMan has his own goals," Angel asked him, still regarding him with suspicion.  
"Of course. We had an interesting discussion on it. I helped him find out more about the orb he's looking for, and then left it at that."  
"We're looking for the orb too. Maybe you can tell us something?"  
"I would, but I'm fairly certain it wouldn't mean anything to you."  
"Try us."  
"We discovered the area it's in is hidden by a riddle. 'In the Castle, above the throne, the left of the face, the jewel is shown'. We haven't figured it out yet."  
"It could mean Netopia castle, or the one at Castillo."  
"I've been there already before I met MegaMan. It's not there. There's only one other place I know of that it could be, but there's no way in yet."  
"Where?"  
"The Castle Area. It's meant to be a new area on the net, connected to ACDC 1, but it's not active yet. I don't even think the connection's been made yet."  
"How do you know about that?"  
"Oh, I heard about it from someone working on the project. I overheard it, actually."


	8. Lan: Them's Fighting Words!

Lan made his way to school with Chaud and Mayl. As usual when in the company of someone he didn't know well, Chaud was quiet.  
"Did you hear about that new area on the net?" Mayl asked them.  
"We head about it from Hub just yesterday," Lan answered. "The Castle Area, he said it was going to be."  
"Strange it hasn't been mentioned before," Chaud remarked. "Would think more would know."  
"Where've you been?" Mayl asked him. "It's been all over the news. They won't even say who's behind it."  
"Don't watch the news much."  
"I noticed. You don't do much of anything do you?"  
"Let him be, Mayl," Lan told her. "It wasn't long ago he didn't have a home, remember."  
"Don't remind me," Chaud said. "Don't want to go back to that."  
"Don't worry, Chaud," ProtoMan said from his PET. "I'm sure you'll have no worries any more."  
"Thanks Proto."  
ProtoMan always seemed to be able to raise his operators spirits easily.  
Hub met them at the gate, but said nothing. It seemed to be his habit to keep to himself unless someone said something to him.  
As they entered the building though, that seemed to change.  
"Is it just me, or is it unusually warm in here?" he asked.  
"Maybe it's just you," Mayl replied. "I feel fine."  
Even Mayl began to feel hot by the time they reached their classroom.  
Hub turned to his Navi, "What do you make of it?"  
"The room temperature is way above normal," MegaMan replied. "The air conditioners aren't active either."  
"He's right, Lan," Angel broke in. "There's definitely something wrong here."  
"Maybe we should have a look at the network for the air conditioners?"  
"Please do," Chaud said, wiping his forehead of sweat. "Before we melt." Mayl managed a weak laugh at this, bringing a faint smile to Chaud's face – the first Lan had seen since he'd first managed to bring ProtoMan online successfully.  
Lan could have sworn there was another satisfied grin on Hub's face as he left the room again, looking for a place to jack into the air conditioner network. He found it downstairs, in the maintenance room.  
Angel too broke out in a sweat once inside the network.  
"It's worse here, Lan," he said. "It's going to be hot work."  
"Best get to work quickly then," he replied. "We've got to get those conditioners back online."  
"Right. I'll ask the programs where the controls for them are."  
He did so. The nearest one had the answer.  
"At the back," it told him. "But I saw a strange Navi there last night! Be careful!"  
"Did you get that Lan?"  
"I heard."  
Viruses here were, of course, of the fire element, and there were a lot of them. Lan swiftly found him battlechips aligned with water, making quicker work of them, but the large number of them still slowed them.  
When they eventually found the controls, the 'strange Navi' was missing.  
Angel operated the controls, activating the air conditioners. A virus jumped out at him, but Lan's quick reactions and the transmission of an Aqua-sword chip dealt with it in moments.  
Lan's phone went. It was Chaud.  
"Lan, whatever you did, undo do it! The air-cons are spitting out hotter air!"  
"Angel!"  
"I'm on it already," he replied, turning them off again.  
"Chaud?"  
"Better, but not by much."  
"Angel, we need to find the cause."  
"I've already identified it. The program here is being altered by the temperature controls in the next area."  
"Get moving then, it's getting hotter again."  
Angel moved on, taking on increasingly more powerful viruses. In the end, he kept out an Aqua-sword, and battered away at them with it. He'd taken the cue in part from ProtoMan, who looked like a sword chip specialist. No doubt with time he'd become more than just adept in that niche, but for now, Angel was the swordsman, cleaving weaker viruses in half easily.  
Finally, they reached the temperature controls.  
"HeatMan?" he asked, incredulously. "You again?"  
"Well, well, if it isn't Angel," HeatMan replied. "What do you think of my work?"  
"Do you even know what you're doing?"  
"Naturally. And you're here to stop me, of course."  
"Match!" Lan called through his link to Angel. "You said you were clean again?"  
"I lied," Match said. "It's a vice I have. Now come on, Lan. Let's see you beat the new and improved HeatMan."  
Angel took to the air to avoid the ground based fire attacks, but had to move swiftly all the same as huge geysers of lava shot up to meet him.  
He dived down, dodging another geyser, and swung the still active Aqua-sword at HeatMan, but it made no difference – he'd already withdrawn into the impenetrable box.  
Seemingly impenetrable that was – Lan sent along a Hammer to break through it.  
HeatMan definitely didn't like that, sending a wave of lava at Angel that singed the tips of his wings and toes as he pulled up to avoid it.  
The next chip from Lan hurled a wave of water back down again, dissipating the last of the lava wave, and hitting hard as it washed over HeatMan, making his flames splutter and smoke. They blazed back strongly again after.  
He followed up on this attack with another series of sword blows, laying one after the other on the helpless HeatMan before he could react, until at last he was thrown back by a counter-attack. The combination of the powerful fire viruses and HeatMan's attacks, stronger than they were last time he'd fought them, had left him weakened far more than before.  
"Angel!" Lan called to him.  
"Find a recovery chip," he called back. "Otherwise I'm toast in more than one way."  
HeatMan saw the opportunity, and took it, charging ahead with flames spouting from his fingers.  
Before they reached him though, a red foot stepped in front of him, it's owner firing off aqua shots to disperse the flames, then swinging one arm to block the fire-sword attack HeatMan had launched afterwards.  
Angel looked up to see ProtoMan easily holding him off.  
"Alright," he said. "Now it's our turn. Lets go, Chaud."  
"Right. Chip data on the way. Let's show them what we've got."  
ProtoMan pushed back with his left arm, which Chaud had made naturally a sword. He made several more slashes in mid-air, sending sonic booms at HeatMan, further pushing him back.  
He made a dash at HeatMan, raining yet more blows on him, including one attack that Lan had never seen before that called up several swords with phantom wielders attacking from other sides.  
ProtoMan then vanished, only his sword remaining. It joined with the phantom swords, then they pulled apart again, all identical.  
HeatMan burned sword after sword, each one vanishing without any apparent effect.  
Finally when there was only one left, ProtoMan reappeared.  
"Chaud?" he asked.  
"Go for it," he replied with an uncharacteristic fierce tone.  
ProtoMan nodded, making another dash. He vanished completely before he came into contact with HeatMan, reappearing directly behind.  
"Missed!" HeatMan snapped.  
ProtoMan kicked at him without turning around. The top part of the box that made up HeatMan fell off.  
"I never miss," ProtoMan replied, as HeatMan was deleted.  
Angel got to his feet, Lan having found the recovery chip after watching ProtoMan and Chaud battle.  
"Thanks," he said as ProtoMan joined him. "You helped me out of a tight spot there."  
"It was nothing. Not bad for a first battle, right?"  
"That was your first?"  
"First real battle. Chaud and I ran through lots of test battles, but this was the first real test."  
"You're like your operator... a natural."  
"High praise, after hearing about what you get up to. Why don't you check the temperature controls, and I'll make a dash back and sort out the air con."  
"Sounds like a plan to me."  
Angel reset the temperature controls back to normal, then turned to see ProtoMan nod at him from the other side of the area before jacking out.  
He almost told Lan to do the same for him, but something stopped him.  
Distant from everything, sat on a box watching was MegaMan. Like ProtoMan, he merely nodded once, then jacked out.  
Angel now jacked out too. Chaud had jacked in nearby, it seemed. He now had a broader smile on his face than Angel had remembered him seeing so far.  
Without a word, he and Lan headed back to the now cooled off classroom.  
Calls of good work and thanks came his way, but Lan held up a hand, and everyone listened.  
"You shouldn't just thank me," he told them. "Chaud helped out too, and without him and his ProtoMan, Angel and I wouldn't have managed it."  
Now it was Chaud's turn to take the barrage of thanks with an embarrassed look. Embarrassed, but happy.  
"I could get to like this," he muttered to Lan.  
"I know I have," Lan replied.  
"Lan," Angel murmured. "Find me Hub."  
"Can it wait?"  
"I don't want MegaMan to have time to come up with a cover."  
"Alright."  
Hub was in the place Lan expected: The far corner of the room.  
"That was some nice work," he told Lan.  
"Angel wants you."  
"Again? I'm touched I warrant all this attention."  
"Stop that," Angel told him. "What were you doing?"  
"Just now? Sweating, until you and Chaud handled it."  
"What about you?" he asked MegaMan.  
"I was here with him."  
"I saw you in the air-con computer before I jacked out."  
"That's impossible," Hub said. "I haven't jacked into anything at all."  
"Really?" Angel was sceptic.  
"You can ask anyone here, they'll confirm it."


	9. MegaMan: True Colours

MegaMan watched the battle between HeatMan and Angel from afar, in an area he'd added just for that purpose. He saw Angel's near-defeat at the hands of HeatMan, upgraded with advice that MegaMan had given Match specifically for giving more of a challenge. He saw Chaud and ProtoMan intervene with a skill that he'd seen in their counterparts from his own reality.  
And he'd watched as Angel spotted him before jacking out. Just as he'd wanted.  
It took mere moments for him to transfer that avatar back to Hub's PET. Since Hub hadn't jacked into anything, no one had noticed his being missing in the first place. A quick cursory glance through everyone present confirmed this theory.  
Lan and Chaud re-entered, with Chaud looking uncharacteristically happy. Lan explained that he'd helped, then let Chaud take his share of the glory while he came to Hub.  
"That was some nice work," he told Lan.  
"Angel wants you," Lan replied.  
"Again?" Hub asked, sardonically continued, "I'm touched I warrant all this attention."  
"Stop that." Angel's suspicion shone through still. "What were you doing?"  
"Just now? Sweating, until you and Chaud handled it."  
"What about you?" he asked MegaMan. Quickly he shifted the most of his attention to that avatar. Keeping two active was easier when he only focused on one of the two.  
"I was here with him," the MegaMan avatar replied.  
"I saw you in the air-con computer before I jacked out."  
"That's impossible," Hub said, shifting back again. "I haven't jacked into anything at all."  
"Really?"  
"You can ask anyone here, they'll confirm it."  
"Let's go ask about Lan," Angel told him shortly. Evidently he wasn't off Angel's hook yet.  
Then he realized that continued suspicion was probably useful. It would make him notice things that Lan wouldn't. Sometimes he admitted even he missed things until too late.  
He decided now was the time to advance the 'construction' of Castle Area, and added the basics. The connection to ACDC was made, and the first area – the outside – was created, half built with a few thoughts. He was starting to get better at this.  
Next of course was the call to Ito.  
"Prosecutor Ito speaking," he answered.  
"Ito. My name is MegaMan. You've been expecting me, I understand."  
"I was wondering when. Your operator's requests have been carried out."  
"Not entirely. The link to ACDC just became active."  
"I'll have the security on site shortly."  
"Good work. I'll be sending a mail with some additional instructions before long. You're welcome to back out when you get them, but at least let me know."  
"I'll remember. You're a lot more liberal than Wily was," Ito noted.  
"I like to give people the choice. Or at least the illusion of them."  
"Because of course if I back out, the moment I act against your interests, you'll act against mine."  
"Exactly. Keep up the good work, Prosecutor. I'll be in touch."  
His next stop was the Undernet, to make preparations for a delivery. A delivery that wouldn't take place until the third and final part of Castle area was finished, but that wasn't important. The preparations were key at this stage, before anyone else found out that the first of his plans had apparently gone awry. No doubt the moment HeatMan and Match's defeat were tied to him, it'd become considerably more difficult to recruit people.  
In this case, it was for someone he hadn't seen since he was in 5th grade, about two years ago now.  
The Undernet, as usual, wound and twisted, having no apparent logic or sense to it's design. He didn't bother with it, skimming through until he found both the Navi he was looking for, and a quiet place that was perfect for him to transfer his MegaMan avatar to. After that, it was a simple matter to retrace the route on foot to find the Navi.  
The Navi looked at him blankly for a few moments, holding up a finger.  
"I know you, I'm sure of it," it said. "Give me a moment."  
"Want a hint?" MegaMan offered.  
"Go on. Nothing too obvious."  
"How about a bus hijacking?"  
It thought for a moment. "MegaMan? Yes, I'm sure, you're MegaMan. What are you doing here?"  
"Looking for you, ColourMan. I'm surprised you recognised me."  
"Why wouldn't I? You're the one that stopped me from doing my job, then brought down World 3."  
"Technically, that's not true any more. Lan has a different Navi, and reality got altered so he's responsible."  
"His name's Angel, isn't it?"  
"How did you know?"  
"Something tried to alter me a while back. I examined what it was up to, and analysed the data. All it tried to do was make me forget ProtoMan, and change all instances of you to this Angel. I suspect it's the reason for a friend I made not too long ago."  
"Oh?"  
"Human. Or at least he seems to be. Come on, I'll show you."  
ColourMan led him through a few more twisting routes to another larger area. This one had been made to resemble a house slightly. There was a boy cooking something there.  
"I found him wandering around not long after the alterations took place. He doesn't remember anything at all, not his name, where he's from, nothing. Poor boy."  
"He looks like Chaud..."  
"That's what I thought too, but there's differences." He gave a laugh, "Wily wanted us to make sure we'd recognise ProtoMan and Chaud coming from the next city over. I guess it explains why I know he's not Chaud. I could say ProtoMan, but he looks completely human."  
"So I see. Would you mind if I had a look?"  
"Aren't you already?"  
"Oh, I forgot to mention. When those alterations took place, I got gifted a few additional abilities, apparently to help me get reality back to normal. I'm thinking I might be able to tell something about him using them."  
ColourMan nodded. "Just give me a moment." He joined the boy. "Let me take care of that for you," he said in an oddly gentle tone. "You can see my friend there for a moment. You can trust him."  
He nodded and joined MegaMan, looking at him for a few moments, then eyes widening.  
"You hold the World in your hand," he said.  
"How did you know?" MegaMan asked, surprised.  
"I don't know."  
"ColourMan says you don't know who you are either."  
He shook his head. "I don't know who I am, or how I got here. He makes sure I'm safe from viruses. They hurt me a lot, and I can't do anything to them."  
"That's nice of him. Would you mind if I had a look, and see if I can find anything? It won't hurt."  
He nodded again. MegaMan laid a hand on his shoulder and concentrated. This reality had nothing on him – he wasn't even meant to be here. But there was a fragment of a memory from the original reality. It showed Chaud, and Chaud's room.  
This was ProtoMan. There could be no doubt about it, this was the original ProtoMan.  
He withdrew his hand again.  
"Did you find anything?"  
"I'm sorry," he said.  
"That's okay. As long as I've someone to protect me from the viruses, I'm content."  
"Maybe I can do something to help with that, but I need to talk to ColourMan again."  
He nodded once more, returning to his cooking while ColourMan returned this time.  
"Well?"  
"You won't believe this."  
"I might."  
"That's ProtoMan. In this reality, ProtoMan didn't exist. At least, not until I manipulated things so Lan encountered Chaud, and he took up programming of his own accord. This is the ProtoMan from our reality – the original one."  
"So that's why he doesn't remember. He shouldn't exist at all, let alone here."  
"Don't tell him ColourMan. I don't know what it'd do to him. In the meantime, I've a favour to ask of you."  
"I suppose I do owe you one for being such an annoyance back then."  
"It's a little odd, I warn you."  
"Go ahead, I'll hear you out."  
MegaMan outlined his situation, and his need to have Lan make the realization needed that would let reality revert back to the original one, then the delivery he needed.  
"Let me get this straight," he said finally with an amused grin. "You're forming a criminal organization, so you can set reality straight."  
"That's right."  
"Do you have any idea how ironic it is that this is the sort of thing you'd fight against?"  
"Yes, and I'm still not entirely happy about it."  
"Guilty conscious?"  
"How did you know?"  
"I used to be a World 3 Navi, remember. I had the same thing when I first became a part of it."  
"What did you do to get over it?"  
"I knew, or thought, that we couldn't be stopped. World 3 just kept having success after success... until you showed up, that is. Did you know that you irritated Wily even more than we sometimes did? We honestly thought he was mad."  
"You mean he wasn't really?" he grinned.  
"Oh, it's hard to tell. He was so deranged at times that it was easy to mistake it for madness."  
"He's reformed now, you know."  
"I heard. News is slow to reach here, but I get it eventually."  
"So you'll help me out?"  
"Why not?" he decided. "A chance to be a part of another criminal organization, being run by the same guy who took down three of them. I'm sure you know what you're doing."  
"Thanks ColourMan."  
"Hey, don't worry about it. Got to keep busy. I'll need someone to watch ProtoMan here though."  
"I've got a solution for that. I think I can protect this small part of the area from viruses entirely – the same kind of protection that's normally reserved for homepages. As long as he stays inside, he'll be fine."  
"That would be very useful, and not just for this. Do you have any idea how hard it is to grow cyber-vegetables at all, let alone in the middle of the Undernet?"  
"I'm guessing not easy."  
"No, it isn't... and I'm feeding him as well. Speaking of that, can you stay for dinner? It's only vegetable soup, I'm afraid, but it's not half bad."  
"That'd be nice."


	10. Lan: The Discovery

"What _is_ up with you Angel?" Lan asked irritably. "You've been as bad tempered as a bear with a sore paw."  
"It's _him_," he replied. He refused to use MegaMan's name any more. "I've gone over everything. He was definitely there watching me. Even the network confirms it. Except the network also confirms that he never went in or left – he was just there, and his excuse holds. It's just too perfect."  
"Maybe it wasn't MegaMan?"  
"It was definitely him. The network was very specific. And you know something else? He's been there watching us every time we've handled an incident. All of the WWW Navis, all of Gospel and Nebula. Even the liberation missions, he was there watching, and did nothing."  
"Maybe he was just curious?"  
"Oh, come on Lan. You saw everyone's reaction to Nebula's Net takeover. Only the Undernet didn't turn a hair when that happened. Then there's this thing about the Cybeasts..."  
"What's that?"  
"When we defeated them, it affected Cyberspace on a massive scale. A lot of ordinary Navis took incredible damage during that. Any of them who'd been jacked into those giant copybots would have been instantly deleted. Yet he was there too, I remember it clearly. He was there, through the battle with both Gregar and Falzar. He should have been deleted, or at least become heavily damaged, but nothing happened to him."  
"I think you're just worrying over nothing, Angel."  
"What can I do to make you see reason, Lan? He's up to something, I know it."  
"Alright, what do you suggest?"  
"If he had been there with us when we took on the Cybeasts, it would have left an imprint on his programming, something that couldn't be removed. I've got one deeper than most because I stored Gregar, remember. I can still call on that if I really have to."  
"So you want to get him examined for it?"  
"And me as well. Mine's probably the most intact imprint of Gregar left, we can use it as a baseline."  
"Dad would be able to find and extract it, wouldn't he?"  
"Of course."  
"So all we have to do is get him to come with us to see Dad."  
"That won't be easy."  
"I've got an idea. We just need to explain it to Dad in advance."  
"I'll send him a mail. Are you really sure about this?"  
"Stop worrying. It'll work. Trust me."  
Angel sighed, but said nothing more. Lan picked up the PET, let Chaud know he was going out again, and took the short walk to Hub's house.  
He knocked on the door once and waited, but got no reaction. He knocked again.  
"Alright already, I'm coming!" Hub's voice came from the other side. He looked damp when he opened it, and had one towel on his head, and another wrapped around him. Hub took in their puzzled expressions, then said, "I was in the shower. Do you want to tell me what you think I've done this time?"  
"Nothing," Lan replied. "I'm just concerned about your Navi."  
"MegaMan? What for?"  
"You know that error you were on about, where you met him?"  
"Naturally."  
"He was in the same area as the error. Dad had to check Angel afterwards to make sure he wasn't affected by it."  
"So you want to get MegaMan examined too."  
"Yup."  
Hub thought about it for a moment. "Oh, alright then. Wait here for a bit while I dry off and put something on," he told them.  
"Angel?"  
"Yes, Lan?"  
"I think you might want to be a bit nicer to him."  
"Why?"  
"You're alienating him from me."  
"He could be working with his Navi on whatever it is they're doing."  
"We can't prove that though, so at least try to get along with him."  
"If you insist," Angel said, though his expression showed he didn't share Lan's point of view.  
When Hub returned, he looked different. His hair was now blue-black, and he wore a top matching it, with green camo styled pants.  
"What's with the change of look?" Lan asked.  
"Oh, I got bored and decided it was time for something new. I almost went with blue for the hair, but this seemed better to me. I like it."  
"At least it means fewer people will mistake you for me."  
"I've never noticed anyone doing that. So where do we go to handle the checkup?"  
"Dad's lab."  
"Huh. SciLab."  
"Something up with that?"  
"No. Just not somewhere I expected to be going."  
"It'll be quiet, and won't take long"  
"Yeah. Guess so."  
They walked on in silence for a time. It seemed that neither Hub or MegaMan wanted to say much, and Angel still held them in suspicion, so wouldn't say anything either.  
Lan was left to try to make conversation by himself.  
"I hear Castle Area got connected earlier," he said.  
"I know," Hub replied.  
"There's some massive security on it. Can't even get close."  
"Sure you can. You just have to be invited."  
"By who?"  
"I dunno. I sneaked in for a look just before the security arrived."  
"What's it like?"  
"Big. It's a proper medieval like castle. It's only half built for now, and there isn't much there. It's strange though. There were no Navis working on the construction of it. It was like it was building itself."  
"That's impossible," Angel said, finally breaking his silence.  
"I know what I saw, Angel," MegaMan told him. "I was the only Navi there. There were only a few programs, and no one else. It was building itself."  
"You must have seen wrong."  
"I don't think so."  
"Stop arguing," Lan told them. "There isn't any point in wondering over it now. I doubt we can get in to have a look now."  
They were silent again on the Metroline to SciLab. Hub began to look worried, and MegaMan's expression mirrored Hub's. Lan tried to assure them getting checked wasn't going to do any harm, but it didn't seem to matter. Hub just shrugged it off and continued looking worried.  
Their Dad was waiting for them.  
"You're here early," he noted. "Its all done. Angel, I'll need to re-examine you too."  
Lan and Hub surrendered their PETs, which were slotted into his computer while he ran an analysis. Hub looked even more worried now, absently gnawing on one knuckle.  
"That's odd," Doctor Hikari murmured, examining outputs and information that made no sense at all. "That's completely backwards..."  
"What is?" Hub asked.  
"It's this imprint. Angel should have one, because he was there, and MegaMan shouldn't have any trace because he wasn't – or at least a faint one if he was."  
"But?"  
"Angel doesn't have any trace of it at all, and MegaMan's is so clear that I believe he could activate a Beast Out whenever he wanted. There's other strange things about MegaMan too. He looks a lot like the Navi I tried to create for Lan, just after his brother died."  
"I remember you talking about that, Dad. Something about trying to save him by turning him into a Navi, right?"  
"That's right, but it failed. I learned a lot from it, and was able to create Angel, but I couldn't save your brother." He turned to Lan, a serious look on his face. "Lan, do you remember what I told you his name was? Your twin brother?"  
Lan thought, then realization dawned. "Hub."  
They all turned to Hub now, who backed away, looking afraid and worried.  
"Give me my PET back," He told them nervously. "Don't make me do anything else I'm going to regret."  
"It'll have to wait until the program handling the analysis is complete. Disconnecting it early might damage MegaMan... or you."  
"I'll take that risk, just give me my PET!"  
"I can't do that, Hub."  
"Then I'll do it myself." He closed his eyes, his brow furrowing in concentration. The PET containing MegaMan vanished from the computer, reappearing in Hub's hand. Hub winced, groaned, and staggered slightly, as if hurt.  
"How..."  
"None of your business," he snapped back, clearly in pain. "And I don't want your help. I don't care what you think you can do. I don't need it, and I don't want it."  
"That's not true-" he began, but Hub vanished. A few small spots of red on the floor where he'd been standing were all the evidence that was left to show he'd been there.  
Lan, Angel and Doctor Hikari remained completely still, trying to understand what happened.  
The Doctor recovered first. With a curious, almost detached expression, he took a small dish from a draw with a small tool Lan couldn't identify, and collected the blood. He then put it into one of the many devices attached to his computer, and began to work on it.  
"Lan," he called. Lan didn't react. He was still trying to understand. Hub was his brother, and had died. Yet somehow he'd been alive? And he'd never noticed the connection. Then there was MegaMan... the failed Navi that his Dad had worked on. But it too was still around?  
"Lan!" he called again, more insistent.  
"Huh? Sorry, what?"  
"Have a look at this."  
"What am I seeing?" he asked, looking at two identical looking strings going across the screen.  
"The top is your DNA, Lan. The bottom is Hub's."  
"The Hub that was just there?"  
"Yes. This DNA was also inside MegaMan too. They're exactly the same person."  
"How is this possible, dad?"  
"I don't know. Can you tell me something now, son?"  
"Of course."  
"What did he mean by 'Anything else I'm going to regret'?"  
"I don't know."  
"I think I do," Angel said. "I think he's behind some incidents that have happened lately."  
"Incidents?"  
"The school's air conditioning system went haywire, overheating the building. Lan and I sorted it with the help of Chaud and his Navi, ProtoMan-"  
"Wait, Chaud and who?"  
"Chaud's a kid that we found. He didn't have a home, so we gave him one. He created ProtoMan himself."  
"Impressive feat... I'd like to see him some time. Go on."  
"He and his Navi helped us out in sorting it, and defeating the Navi that caused it, HeatMan."  
"Operated by Mr. Match?"  
"Yes. But right before I jacked out, I saw MegaMan watching."  
"That's not all," Lan added. "Angel told me that MegaMan has been seen watching nearby every time Angel and I have taken on a Navi for any of the three organizations we took on, and at every liberation mission we did."  
He took this in, looking from Angel to Lan, then sighed and indicated for them to sit down. He picked up a laptop computer, and set it in front of him, taking the seat opposite.  
"Lan, Angel... I want you both to recall every time you've seen him, and everything you can remember about him. I'm going to use the information to get to the bottom of this."


	11. MegaMan: Dark Allies

Stupid!  
How could he have been so trusting? He should have suspected they were up to something.  
Of course Hub and MegaMan were the same person – they were both him! Now because he'd been too trusting, and let them find out, he was left with multiple injuries, and _really_ didn't feel well.  
There was no way he was going to stick around though. They knew something wasn't right now, there was no way he could go anywhere with either avatar there now, not unless he was absolutely certain he wouldn't be found out.  
That of course left only his Castle area, but even that wasn't going to be finished any time soon. Even he couldn't create the entire thing in one go.  
It was time, he decided, for drastic measures. He didn't like what he was going to do, but he hadn't bothered to come up with a Plan B in case of an emergency like this, so he was dealing on spur of the moment decisions.  
Though he really didn't like the implications, Lan was a threat now, and as long as Angel was still active, they'd track him down mercilessly. They were too powerful for him to face head on, he was still weaker than normal when actually in their world. He'd have to take out Angel.  
With a muttered oath that he'd be more careful, he re-formed the MegaMan avatar in Castle Area.  
He noted he looked distinctly battered here now. His suit showed signs of the damage done to him when he'd torn the PET from it's connection to the computer.  
"Hello, MegaMan," a voice similar to his own whispered in his ear.  
"Go away," he told it.  
"You can't shut me out."  
"I told you to go away!" he snapped back. The voice formed it's own avatar, identical to his own, but with a darker colouring, and lacking his infirmities. It was, of course, his darksoul.  
DarkMega had never truly been purged from him. It was impossible to do so, as long as there was still evil inside him, and he admitted that even he had some small amount of that. Except for the rare occasions he lost is temper, MegaMan was able to keep DarkMega in check, and so his darksoul had never emerged – even, quite remarkably, during the Cybeast incident. DarkMega in control of a Gregar Beast Out was not a pleasant thought.  
"It's been a while, hasn't it?"  
MegaMan gave up. "What do you want?"  
"Oh, nothing. I just noticed you having a few... issues."  
"So what?"  
"So, I think I have a solution."  
"No. Absolutely not."  
"You don't even know what it is yet."  
"I'm not using Darkchips. Never again."  
"That's good. I wasn't suggesting them."  
"Then what?"  
"You've brought back Navis that were deleted, MegaMan. What's one more? You want to get this Navi that's usurped your brother out of the way. Who would he recognise instantly and go after?"  
"Spare me the puzzles and spit it out," he replied irritably. It wasn't like him, but after everything that had happened, he felt it was well-deserved.  
"ShadeMan."  
"You can't be serious."  
"Why not? You could only defeat him through the use of a DarkChip before the liberation missions. Lan doesn't like to use DarkChips. If you bring him back on your terms, you'll have control over him. He might be corrupt, but he's loyal. So simply set him on Angel, and watch them try to stop him without DarkChips. They'll be reluctant at first, of course," DarkMega went on relentlessly. "Just doing enough to foil whatever plan he's up to. But eventually they'll have to come to terms with using one, and that'll taint Angel permanently... then they have him to deal with instead."  
"What you're proposing... it's absurd."  
"No. It's the distraction you need. ShadeMan wouldn't be weakened like you are, and would be here in full force and health. You need only intervene to keep him active long enough for Lan to give Angel a DarkChip. After that, the DarkChip itself will keep them busy. You know I'm right, MegaMan."  
"Another way. There has to be another way."  
"Really? Who else gave you and Lan so much trouble? A WWW Navi? Gospel? ShadeMan returned time and time again, and you fought him time and time again. Only when you defeated NebulaGrey did he finally cease to exist."  
"And if I revive him..."  
"He'll only cease to exist if you let him. A mere distraction for them."  
MegaMan created a bench absently, sitting on the edge of it, deep in thought. DarkMega merely watched with his usual grin.  
"Go away," MegaMan said finally. "You've made your point. Now go away."  
"Don't discount the idea," his darksoul replied, disappearing again.  
He hated to admit it, but he'd been right. It would solve the problem, and it would give him the distraction he needed.  
He pooled what strength he had left and concentrated on pulling back the darkloid that had so troubled him in the past. The air nearby shimmered into life, particles taking on different colours, all ones that appeared on ShadeMan. Slowly, they coalesced into the bat-Navi.  
ShadeMan breathed deeply, then his eyes snapped open.  
"Oh, my. Isn't this a tasty looking snack?"  
"Don't do that," MegaMan told him contemptuously. "You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me."  
"Oh, I know. DarkMega left me all I needed to know."  
"How did he do that?"  
"Oh, we creatures of the darkness keep in touch... I know what he suggested to you. When do I start?"  
"Just go and get on with it before I change my mind about this. And try not to get hurt too badly. I don't want to have to keep healing you all the time."  
"Me?" he laughed. "Me, get hurt? Only by a DarkChip. You know that."  
He pulled a wing around him, and turned into a small flock of bats, headed through the guarded link to the net proper.  
MegaMan pulled his avatar back, then went looking for Ito, creating the Hub avatar nearby. Like his MegaMan avatar, Hub showed clear signs of injury, but he ignored them.  
Ito seemed to have taken his abrupt appearance completely unruffled.  
"You're looking... ah... well."  
"Spare me," Hub said, trying to ignore the pain. "Plans have changed. There's a Navi named ShadeMan on the loose again. Do everything you can to keep him on the loose, regardless of what he does. Much as I hate to admit it... I need him."  
"That's going to raise a lot of suspicions."  
"Use your Judge Tree. I'll hack it for you if I have to. Just don't let him get detained."  
"Hub, I've seen to everything you've asked for so far, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for something in return for this one. I can't keep doing things for nothing. I've a life to rebuild."  
He stared at the prosecutor for several minutes before replying.  
"What do you need?"  
"Cash, naturally."  
Hub's eyes went distant for a moment as he handled it. Ito's PET beeped.  
"JudgeMan?" Ito asked it.  
"A large sum of money has just been deposited into our account, Prosecutor."  
"Source?"  
"A private account owned by a Hub Hikari."  
"Show me the details, JudgeMan." Ito scrutinized them, but was apparently satisfied. "It was nice doing business with you master Hikari."  
"Try not to call on me too often like this. There are limits to what I can do."  
"This will suffice for now. I'll have things taken care of, but it'll take time."  
"Whatever it takes," Hub replied, vanishing again as MegaMan pulled him back.  
This time, when he returned his full consciousness to himself, he found Mega hovering nearby.  
"You don't look well," He told MegaMan.  
"That's probably because I'm not."  
"Something happen?"  
"Bad day."  
"And there I thought gods couldn't get bad days."  
"I'm not a god, and I've no intention of being one."  
"You're still dedicated to getting back again, aren't you?"  
"I'm going to do whatever it takes to make it happen."  
"Even going so far as to bring back someone you hate? I saw you resurrect that oversized bat."  
"It was necessary. Lan and Angel are becoming too risky to just leave alone running around after me."  
"So they know you're up to something now?"  
"Unfortunately."  
"Why so gloomy?"  
"Because I'm doing something that's undoubtedly wrong, and shouldn't be done, just to get back. This is the kind of thing Lan and I worked together to stop, and now I'm doing it myself."  
"If it's any consolation, if you do go back, this altered reality won't have existed."  
"I'll still remember it though, Mega. I'll know what I did."  
"So you'll be a little selfish, and have memories of events that no one else will remember. What of it?"  
"Don't you see? The people in this reality have lives, they're happy. Take Chaud, for example. In the original one, he wasn't sociable, never smiled, and he and Chaud considered themselves above everyone, and above asking for help. In this one, he's happy, more so than I've ever known him. He's got friends, and making friends."  
"You're inconsistent, MegaMan. If you go back, you'll have to accept they'll lose that and go back to the way the were before. If you want them to keep that, you'll have to stay here like this."  
"I know."  
"Tough decision to make."  
"I'll make it when I'm ready. I've got plenty of time. All the time in the world."  
Mega said nothing.  
MegaMan concentrated on the orb, setting it to follow ShadeMan. He already hard at work terrorising the Navis in the Cyber City part of the network. Several of them already lay drained of all health because of him.  
Mega shook his head, "I don't know how you can watch that. Knowing you're causing suffering like that..."  
"I don't like it any more than you do," MegaMan told him. "But someone has to keep an eye on him, and keep danger away from him until Lan and Angel do what I want them to. Then they'll have a distraction to themselves, and I won't have to do anything."  
"That's wrong."  
"I know. There wasn't any other way."  
"I think there would have been – if you'd taken the time to look for it."  
"It's too late now," MegaMan sighed. "If you don't want to watch, then go somewhere else. I'm going to stay here."  
"In this tree?"  
"It's quiet, and no one bothers me. I can concentrate without getting in the way of you, Geo, or anyone else, and not have to worry about anything except the orb."  
"Whatever works for you, I guess. You know how to find me if you need me."  
MegaMan just nodded, still watching ShadeMan.


	12. Chaud: Batty Battle

Chaud sat examining ProtoMan's code, making improvements, periodically sending them to his Navi.  
ProtoMan meanwhile, just lounged in his PET, apparently leaning against one side of the screen. He didn't seem to mind his operator's long silences.  
Their room was still relatively unchanged from when it had been the Hikari's guest room. Chaud hadn't had much to be begin with then Lan found him, and hadn't found time to personalize it. Even then, he didn't see much point to it.  
Chaud sent another update to ProtoMan, called their testing simulation, but hesitated before running it.  
"Something wrong?" ProtoMan asked, glancing up.  
"The simulations aren't going to show anything different."  
"They're useful for testing, aren't they?"  
"Not when you want to test against another Navi."  
"You want a real battle again, like when we took on HeatMan."  
"Yeah."  
"Why not just challenge someone? Lan, maybe."  
"Lan? He and Angel would devastate us. After all they've taken on, we're just a small fry."  
"Remember that battle though – Angel had trouble then."  
"I know. I think we're out of his league though."  
"Maybe one of Lan's friends then? Mayl and Roll, maybe?"  
As if on cue, the phone went off. ProtoMan picked up. Chaud didn't like to answer the phone himself.  
"ProtoMan speaking," he answered.  
"It's me," Mayl's voice replied tensely. "What's happened to Lan?"  
"Lan? I believe he went out a while ago, looking for that Hub kid. Is something wrong?"  
"He's not answering his phone, and Roll's in trouble."  
"What happened to her?"  
"She was in CyberCity area, where the Cybeast statues are, when a bat-like Navi attacked. She's cornered along with other Navis there, and we can't hurt the Navi."  
ProtoMan looked at Chaud, who looked back with a mix of worry and helplessness. He hesitated, thinking, then said, "Tell Roll Proto and I are on our way to help."  
"Are you sure you can take it on, Chaud?" she answered.  
"Naturally," he replied with confidence he didn't feel. "I did help Lan out, didn't I?"  
"Well... be careful."  
"Are you kidding? That's what I'm meant to do."  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Lan's the one meant to get in trouble and do reckless stuff, right? Well, he's not around. So I'm filling in for him."  
"Oh, Chaud," Mayl laughed. "We'll see you there."  
"Are you sure about this?" ProtoMan asked him after she hung up.  
"No," he replied. "But it nets us a real Navi to go against, and if Lan can't help..."  
"I understand. Let's give it our best."  
Chaud said almost nothing while ProtoMan made his way there, carving through any virus careless enough to cross his path. Chaud was busy sorting through the small collection of battlechips he had so he'd be able to find whichever one he needed.  
The chips had been given to him by Lan and his friends when he'd first met them as a kind of head start with them. A handful of them were his own creations, and held data to activate certain skills of ProtoMan's that weren't safe to program directly into him.  
One of them was different though. He didn't know who, or where it had come from. It looked almost normal, except for being a darker colour. No amount of work had identified it. All that he could do was go to the chip shop, as it's owner was reputed to know everything about chips.  
Chaud hadn't visited him, as he was still having trouble getting over having a case of nerves whenever he met anyone though. A lot of distasteful encounters while he'd been on the streets had left him awkward in those situations.  
He left the strange chip with the others. He didn't intend to use it without knowing what it did.  
"Chaud," ProtoMan called. "I need you."  
"What's the problem?"  
"I've found our bat. I think he's deranged."  
"I heard that!" a voice snapped.  
"And that proves it," ProtoMan muttered.  
"Get closer, Proto. Let's have a look at the situation."  
"On it already."  
Roll, along with a group of other Navis were trapped between the statues of the Cybeasts, and a line of purple fire. In front of that was the bat-like Navi. It was more resemblant of a vampire than a bat, Chaud thought.  
"Oh, look who's here again. Chaud and ProtoMan have come to try to stop me again," it said in a taunting tone.  
"Again? Have we met before?" ProtoMan asked.  
The bat Navi just laughed, spreading wings and diving for them. He quickly jumped aside, rolling and coming to his feet again ready to battle.  
"You're as quick as ever, ProtoMan," the Navi told them, dropping back down nearby. "I'm going to enjoy getting my revenge on you."  
"I haven't done anything to you."  
"Oh, not that you remember, no... you're the one that isn't real. He told me all about you."  
"Who? Who told you?"  
"No, no... I can't be telling you that."  
"Why not?"  
"You're my lunch. And lunch doesn't need to know silly things like that."  
The Navi dived again, but this time ProtoMan was ready, bracing himself and swinging the sword arm at just the right time. He should have cut deeply into the Navi, but instead it turned completely black, vanishing and reappearing nearby.  
Chaud noticed something out of the corner of his eye. The odd chip was glowing with the same purple glow as the fires blocking off the captive Navis. It didn't seem to be doing anything else, so he ignored it, and turned his attention back.  
ProtoMan was continuing to block attacks, but all his own attacks and counter-attacks just had the same effect as the first. The Navi just turned black again, reappearing somewhere else.  
"I'm having no effect Chaud. Nothing can hurt him."  
Chaud didn't reply, he was looking back at the odd chip again. Every time his Navi had blocked, the glow had grown stronger.  
"Chaud? Chaud are you there?"  
"Huh? Yeah, I'm here. I saw."  
"What's wrong?"  
"It's this chip."  
"The dark one?"  
"Yeah. It just started glowing."  
"Don't touch it, Chaud. We don't know what it does."  
"It's got some kind of reaction though. Maybe..."  
"Listen to your Navi, Chaud." It was Hub, stood behind him and looking distinctly worse for wear. One arm was in a sling. "It's a DarkChip. You don't want to use it."  
"But that Navi..."  
"It'll delete ShadeMan, but not without great cost. Leave this one to Lan."  
"Lan isn't answering his phone."  
"I know. He's working on something with his dad. Send him a mail, and mark it urgent. Angel will pick it up for certain then. Until then, just keep him distracted."  
"What if ProtoMan gets hit?"  
"Then he'll get damaged like any other Navi," Hub shrugged.  
"ProtoMan, did you hear?"  
"I heard. I'll keep this bat busy."  
"I also need a favour from you, Chaud," Hub told him.  
"What's that?"  
Hub reached his free hand into a pocket, and handed him a data chip. "I need this delivered to the Castle Area. MegaMan's out of action at the moment, and can't handle it himself. Just tell the Navis on guard that you're carrying the data to continue construction; they'll let you through."  
Chaud took the chip, nodding. "We'll send it there as soon as Angel handles that Navi."  
Hub appeared to think for a moment, then shook his head. "As soon as Angel turns up," he said. "Construction's already delayed, it needs to get back on track as soon as possible. ShadeMan and Angel know each other, he'll go after Angel as soon as he appears, so you'll be free to go immediately."  
"Alright. Is Castle Area yours then?"  
"No. I was just contracted in to assist with building it. I'll see you around... Maybe. If I'm still in one piece."  
Hub left him. Chaud went after, to ask what he meant by 'still in one piece', but he'd seemingly vanished. The front door hadn't gone, and he was nowhere to be found.  
Something seemed to tell him it wasn't something to worry about, so he went back to his room and sent the mail to Lan.  
A mail from Angel came back moments later. It looked like he was in a hurry.  
"On way," it read. "Will arrive soon. Keep him busy."  
"Hold on there, Proto. Angel is on the way."  
"A real Guardian Angel," he grunted, blocking another attack. "His turn to save us."  
"How are you holding out?"  
"Taken a few hits," he replied shortly, keeping most of his attention on ShadeMan. "Nothing a recovery chip won't solve."  
It wasn't long before Angel dived in, slamming into the side of ShadeMan in his own dive, sending them both tumbling.  
"That's our cue, ProtoMan. Let's deliver this data."  
"Right."  
ProtoMan glanced back once on his way out. The two Navis looked more like two people in a tavern brawl than Navis battling it out.


	13. Lan: The Devilish Deed

Angel didn't bother with fancy tactics. He just pummelled ShadeMan with everything he had. Unlike Chaud's ProtoMan, he could harm ShadeMan – he'd used DarkChips before, which meant that any attack could harm him.  
ShadeMan was more resistant than the last time they'd met, absorbing attacks that would normally have dealt massive damage.  
ShadeMan himself raked at him with claws, blasting sonic attacks at him, and more.  
Finally they hovered in the air facing each other, each one showing clear signs of their fight, but neither one giving up anything. The trapped Navis looked on mostly in fear, but in part awe – watching Angel in a battle with another Navi was a rare privilege, especially one as resistant as this – normally when another powerful Navi went against them, the local landscape got rearranged.  
"Lan," Angel breathed. "I'm going to need more power."  
"I've gone through everything we've got, Angel. There's nothing left."  
"You know what that means, don't you?"  
"I thought we agreed never to use them again?"  
"I don't think we've got a choice. I'm in bad shape, Lan, and we're fresh out of recovery chips. We have to do something."  
Lan hesitated, leaving them in a long silence.  
"What's wrong, Angel?" ShadeMan taunted him. "Afraid to bring out the Devil in you? Can't you handle the power?"  
"Shut up. Just shut up."  
"Oh, this is too fun to pass up. I should devour you where you stand, but this is much more fun. You can't decide if you're an Angel or a Devil!" he chortled.  
"Lan!"  
With clear reluctance, Lan answered in a quiet tone. "I'm sending a DarkChip. Just one. Make it count, Angel. Having to send one is bad enough."  
Angel said nothing, hoping he wouldn't regret what he was going to do. He loaded up the chip, causing his buster arm to change into the DarkSword. The same chip he'd used the very first time he'd gone against ShadeMan.  
There was silence in the area. Those Navis that had been rooting for him fell silent. Everyone recognised the presence of a DarkChip.  
"Forgive me," Angel breathed to no one in particular, then swung the sword at ShadeMan. He made no attempt to get clear, instead grinning wider than before.  
Just like the first time Angel had defeated him, ShadeMan was left sparking afterwards.  
"So, you've given in again, Angel," he chuckled. "My task here is done now. MegaMan has his way."  
"What? MegaMan?"  
But ShadeMan had already turned to dust, which was rapidly being blown away.  
Angel sank down to the ground. With the still active DarkSword, he destroyed the barrier still confining the other Navis with a single anger filled blow, then turned away from them. Most of them looked at him in shock, even looking afraid of him as they passed. Even Roll didn't look at him the same as usual.  
He paid no attention.  
"Angel? Angel are you alright?" It was Lan, of course.  
"No. It was a trap, Lan."  
"A trap?"  
"Yes, a trap!" he snapped, then calmed himself. "ShadeMan didn't move when I attacked him with this, as if he wanted me to do this, then before he was deleted, he said that MegaMan has his way. It sounds like he was behind this."  
"Lets get you out of there, Angel, before anything happens. At least if you're in your PET, we can keep an eye on you, if not help you."  
Angel let Lan jack him out. Once back in the PET, the DarkSword terminated itself. Angel sank down onto the floor, leaning back.  
"He wanted us to do it, Lan."  
"We can't do anything about that now, so don't be like that. You've got to stay sharp, or-"  
"I know. I can already feel him stirring again."  
"Keep a handle on him, Angel. The last thing we need is Devil coming back again."  
The mail notifier beeped. Angel glanced at the mail.  
"It's an automated message from the Program we set to watch Castle Area."  
"What did it see?"  
"Someone just got let in. It didn't say who."  
"I wonder if I could get Chaud to look into it for us."  
"I'm fine, Lan. I can handle Devil for now."  
"Isn't that what you said last time?"  
"I'll tell you if I think he's getting too powerful."  
"Alright. I'll trust you Angel. I'm sending you back online again."  
Angel kept clear of everyone. Word would spread quickly of what he'd done, and with his reputation...  
As usual, he flew over everyone instead, and paid no attention to any activity below that happened because of his appearance. A Navi for the news hailed him, but again he ignored it. It would only lead to questions he didn't want to deal with right now.  
ACDC area sped past below him. The reactions here were fewer, and less obvious. The program they'd set up to watch drew back though, as if it knew.  
"Don't do that," he told it. "I'm fine. Just tell me who went through."  
"It was ProtoMan."  
"ProtoMan? You've got to be kidding me."  
"Not in the slightest. I can show you the recording of the event," it offered.  
"Thanks, but no. I believe you. The question is, how to get in..."  
"Or why did he get let in," Lan added.  
"That should be easy," he replied. He turned to one of the nearby guard Navis. "Excuse me?"  
"What is it?" it replied gruffly.  
"I'm looking for a friend of mine. He apparently came through here just recently, a red Navi named ProtoMan?"  
"Just a few minutes ago. You'll have to wait for him here. No entry to unauthorized persons."  
"Oh, I don't want in. I'm just curious to why he was let in?"  
"He had a delivery to complete construction, I'm told. He was given it by one Hub Hikari to deliver it because mister Hikari couldn't see to it himself."  
"I see. Thank you."  
"Oh, no." Lan said. "Chaud doesn't know the truth about Hub or MegaMan yet."  
"Lan, jack me out now, and get to him quickly. If you hurry, we might just be able to stop the delivery and bring them out into the open to challenge them."

Lan let the door slam behind him, and dashed up the stairs to Chaud's room.  
"Oh, hi Lan," he greeted them.  
"Chaud, did you deliver Hub's data yet?"  
"Of course... but how did you know?"  
"Damn it! We're too late!"  
"Uh... what?"  
Lan briefly outlined the situation, and that Hub and MegaMan weren't to be trusted.  
"So I just helped them?" he asked finally. "And I shouldn't have."  
"We think so, and no," Angel said. It was the first time he'd spoken since they'd gotten back. "ShadeMan was a distraction. So we wouldn't be able to stop the delivery in time."  
"So what do we do now?"  
"Lan alerted the officials. They're on a wide-scale search for both of them, but given their elusiveness, I doubt they'll even have sightings. They're also trying to track down the servers that are hosting Castle Area, and who authorised it's construction or connection to ACDC area."  
"Maybe they should also investigate the security at the place?"  
"One already tried. They're due to appear before the Judge Tree, for attempting to impede the security in their duty."  
"I didn't think that was a law."  
"Neither did I, but it happened, and since the tree's creator is behind bars, and no one's been allowed to do anything to it, there's no way it could be a mistake."  
"Wait, Lan," Angle broke in. "Something's not right here."  
"What is it?"  
"Ito's the only one known to have hacked the Judge Tree, right?"  
"Well, besides you and me, but we were stopping Ito."  
"Exactly. And we haven't done it, so..."  
"Ito must have been freed. That would have been on the news though."  
"MegaMan," Angel and ProtoMan said in unison.  
"It all comes back to him, but what is he up to?" Chaud asked.  
"The last time we knew anything like that, he was looking for that orb he was talking about," Lan answered. "He left a riddle about it's location, remember?"  
"I remember," Angel replied. "How did it go now... 'In the Castle, above the throne, the left of the face, the jewel is shown' I think it was."  
"Castle Area," Chaud said. "The Navi we delivered the data to was in a throne room. There was a carving of a creature above the throne, but it only had one eye. The Navi was on the phone when we got there, he said something about the missing orb arriving in two days time, and the was something about it being a kind of final key."  
"A key to what, I wonder."  
"I don't know," Lan said. "But whatever it opens, if MegaMan wants it opened, I think we want it to stay closed."  
"We can't do anything until we find them, or find out more though," Angel said. "I wish there was something to do until then. I need to take my mind off things."  
"I think I have a mystery for you to solve," Chaud said. He handed Lan a chip.  
Lan recognised it instantly. It was a DarkChip.  
"How did you get this?"  
"That's the mystery. I don't remember anyone giving it to me, but when ProtoMan was on the way to help Roll, I went through my chips, and it was among them."  
"Could MegaMan have put it there?"  
Chaud shook his head. "I don't think so. He came to me as Hub and warned me about it. He persuaded me to call for you. Why would he give it to me, then warn me about it?"  
"It does seem to lack sense... we should take it to Higsby. He could tell us something about it."  
"I was going to, but..."  
"You got nervous again."  
"Yeah. Sorry."  
"No need to be sorry, Chaud. We'll go with you."  
"Thanks, Lan. You're a real friend."


	14. MegaMan: Visions and Amends

**A/N: **Advance warning. If you're squeamish, you may find the first part of this chapter a little unsettling.

* * *

Castle Area was completed except for the delivery of the orb by ColourMan in two days.  
Angel was already distracted by this Devil. MegaMan had once again gone looking back into the history of this reality, and found that Devil was to Angel what DarkMega was to him. Of course, like Gregar, as this reality hadn't actually existed during that event, Devil had only come into existance in the moment Angel had deleted ShadeMan yet again.  
Against his better judgement, MegaMan had called DarkMega out again, and told him to help Devil just enough to keep Angel more distracted. His darksoul had been only too happy to oblige him.  
The 'heroes' were further distracted by the DarkChip that had appeared to Chaud. This one puzzled even him. He hadn't created it, so how had it got there?  
MegaMan decided not to worry about it. They were investigating it, let them find out for him.  
For now, he chose to leave the world to itself, and returned to the shack that Mega had shown him. He'd recognised the kind of cyberspace it was – a Vision Burst. A moment in time preserved perfectly as data in cyberworld. No one knew how they were created, or why.  
Thanks to Chaud's efforts in the original reality, it was possible to tell what the date was on these Vision Bursts, and this one had been dated for a good twenty years into his future.  
MegaMan re-entered it, noting that it was still exactly the same.  
It showed an area on the edge of Den-City that in both his own and this altered reality, was rarely visited. There wasn't much there in those realities.  
In this Vision Burst though, it was fairly built up, but mostly abandoned. Except for one structure.  
It was a semi-circular amphitheatre, in tiers of steps going upwards. Instead of an area to perform plays though, there was an alter, a gong, and a statue.  
The statue was of him.  
On the alter there was a man, chained down and struggling to free himself. The tiers were lined with people looking on, none of them moving to help him.  
He knew what was going to happen. This Vision Burst, unlike others he'd seen, repeated the same events over and over, resetting back to the start once it reached the end.  
Someone who was unmistakably a priest walked to the alter, and the man's struggling increased. He screamed out for mercy, but nothing happened.  
A long, cruel knife was drawn out from under the priest's robe. It was held in both hands, point down.  
MegaMan looked on, still sickened by what he saw, but this time he didn't run from it. This time he watched the whole terrible thing. He had to know how it finished. Last time he'd anticipated what was going to happen, and run from the thought of it.  
The knife plunged in with a scream. Moments later, the heart was drawn out, and placed in an outstretched hand of the statue to him.  
It was lit on fire, and the priest prostrated himself before the statue. The people in the tiers followed suit.  
The gong rang out. At it's sound, as one person, they intoned, "We offer this sacrifice to you oh dread god, and beg you to let us live in peace, and raise not your hand against us."  
The scene reset, showing the sacrifice being dragged to the alter again.  
This was what kind of god he's be seen as if he didn't watch his actions. A god to be feared, with people sacrificing other people to him, begging him not to harm them.  
He was already causing things to happen that were unquestionably wrong, could be seen as evil. The kind of things that would make a god be feared.  
This wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't how things were going to turn out.  
He left the area before the sacrifice happened again. Forcing himself to watch it once had been hard enough. Twice was too much.  
He was deep in thought as he made his way back to Echo Ridge, Geo's town, when the orb pulsed in his hand.  
A brief glance told him what he needed to know.  
Angel had lost to Devil.  
MegaMan formed his avatar in Castle Area again.  
"I know you're here," he said to the empty area. "Or at least listening."  
"You know, for someone who refuses to have anything to do with darkness as much as possible, you're calling on me a lot," DarkMega said, forming before him.  
"If I do it, you get stronger, and I have to worry about you more. If you do it, there's nothing extra to bother me."  
"Cunning, I'll grant you that much. So how can I be of service to you, oh dread god?"  
"Please don't do that," he asked in a pained voice.  
"You've got to admit, godhood has it's appeal."  
"Or that either."  
"If nothing else, you're determined. Of course, I'm you, so I am as well."  
"I know. Keep a handle on Devil, will you? I don't want him getting out of control."  
"I already anticipated that for you. I've kept him on a tight leash. Figuratively speaking."  
"You're up to something, aren't you?"  
"Naturally."  
"Remind me never to trust you."  
"You mean you did in the first place?"  
"No, but at least it'll make me sure I don't start trusting you."  
His darksoul chuckled, disappearing again.  
MegaMan looked around at the Castle Area. It was nearly completed now. Tomorrow he'd have enough strength built up to finish creating the final parts, then the day after, ColourMan would bring the missing orb. JudgeMan himself would be on the scene to ensure it's arrival.  
Angel was permanently out of the picture for as long as Devil held sway, which meant that Lan too would be too, unless he borrowed someone else's Navi again. Lan wasn't likely to do that though.  
Chaud and ProtoMan were doubly busy now, investigating the mysterious appearance of their DarkChip, and trying to find Devil so they could get Angel back.  
He decided it was time to intervene again, and this time, Lan was the focus of his efforts. He didn't try to manipulate him or change his memories or thoughts.  
Lan was at SciLab, in the same room that in this reality, he'd commanded the team that rid the net of Nebula, now directing the search for Devil.  
MegaMan waited until the room was empty, then formed in the room as himself. Lan knew Hub and MegaMan were both him.  
"Hello, Lan. You've been looking for me."  
Lan looked up, not surprised. "Why did you do it?" he asked quietly.  
"You couldn't understand, Lan. I wish I could explain, but I can't, not now, not yet."  
"This is the second time I've lost Angel to Devil, MegaMan."  
"Actually, it's the first. What you think was the first time, didn't actually happen."  
"I suppose that's your explanation for the missing imprint from the Cybeasts too."  
"Yes. I really was there, because I was the one you operated to defeat them."  
"I don't remember that. I remember operating Angel."  
"I know. You also won't remember that it was me that got the darksoul when Nebula took over the net, and not Angel."  
"What are you saying? That you're my Navi?"  
"It sounds hard to believe, but it's true. You just don't remember it, because as far as you and everyone else are concerned, I ceased to exist when Dad failed to create me."  
"Yet here you are."  
"No, Lan. I'm not actually here. This is just a representation of me. Why else would I be able to appear in the real world without the use of a copybot?"  
"So where are you?"  
"Actually, I don't know exactly. I suspect it's a kind of future."  
"Kind of?"  
"It's complicated. Something happened that changed reality as I know it, from the reality I know, where I'm your Navi, and Dad didn't fail to create me, to this reality that you know. I think where I am is a future for it, but I can't prove it. It's not important though. Not if I can change reality back the way it was."  
"So that's why you did it."  
"That's why I did all of it. Even the parts you don't know about yet."  
"Why did you come here?"  
"You're looking for Devil. Without a Navi, you're cut off from the main search. I can locate him a lot quicker than you can from my vantage where I am, but that doesn't help you unless you have a Navi."  
"All I have to do is borrow one from someone willing to."  
"Why go that far? You've been my operator before, even if you don't recall it. I can find Devil, and I've been in the same situation as Angel is before. I know the situation. I can bring Angel back."  
"Why would you do this? You're the one who brought Devil back. Now you want to get rid of him just as quickly?"  
"Yes. Lan... when you last saw me, you'd just found out who I was. I acted too rashly, and did things I probably shouldn't have, but what's done is done. Now it's time to make things right again."  
"I don't trust you, MegaMan. You've deceived me before, pretending to be Hub. Pretending to be a normal boy."  
MegaMan turned away to hide his reaction. This was his brother, best friend and operator, and he'd just been told he wasn't trusted. He knew the reasons why, of course, but it stung all the same.  
In the palm of one hand, he created a miniature of the orb as he'd first seen it, about the size of a marble, and placed it on the desk in front of Lan.  
"If you change your mind, you can use this to call me. I'll hear you no matter where you are."  
Troubled, he left Lan to his thoughts. He'd given him plenty to think about... whether he acted on it though... well, Angel would be the first person he'd tell. When he got Angel back.


	15. Lan&Chaud: Devil's Day

It was opening day at the Castle Area. With entry now open to all, Navis had flooded the area. Shops had been opened in short order, but unlike ones in other areas, all they sold were souvenirs, such as a snow globe of the castle. Whoever had set up the shops must have had plenty of stock, because there seemed to be no end to the lines of Navis walking away with them.  
To one side of the castle were ornate formal gardens including a hedge maze, while on the other side Navis could take part in jousting matches. Programs nearby healed the Navis as they went, to prevent any accidental deletions.  
The only area off-limits was the throne room, but they'd been told it would be opened in a grand ceremony when the administrator of the area would show himself.  
Lan, still without a Navi, was watching through ProtoMan's PET. Both he and Chaud thought they knew who the administrator would be.  
Lan had kept the orb that MegaMan had given him to himself. He hadn't told anyone, or even let anyone know that MegaMan had visited him.  
Devil, meanwhile, hadn't been seen anywhere. This worried him – if Devil got completely deleted, then there was no way to retrieve Angel. Unless he got MegaMan to revive him... he had revived other Navis, like ShadeMan... but no, that'd mean putting himself in debt to MegaMan for doing it.  
"The ceremony will be starting soon," ProtoMan informed them. "The throne room just got opened. I've taken us a front row seat."  
"Can you see the throne?" Lan asked.  
"Yes, and the face above it. It looks like Gregar, actually, but with the left eye missing."  
"Strange that they'd open the place without it," Chaud remarked.  
"Unless they meant to."  
"We'll see."  
Other Navis began to file in now, the seats being rapidly taken, then standing room on this floor. Finally the three galleries above filled up.  
The central aisle was left completely clear. Down it, came MegaMan. Though his eyes still had a haunted look to them, he looked better.  
"I told you it was him," Lan muttered.  
"I'm not so sure," Chaud disagreed.  
"Hush," ProtoMan told them. "He's about to say something."  
MegaMan stood before the throne, but didn't sit on it, turning to address the.  
"Ladies, gentlemen, Navis... did I miss anyone out? Welcome to Castle Area. I was planning on telling you all about it, but it looks like you've all had plenty of time to see it, so why don't we skip ahead?" He gestured behind him to the face. "As you've probably noticed, we're missing the eye here. The eye is due to be delivered any moment now, and when it's put in it's place, the administrator will show himself."  
There was a knock at the massive double doors to the room, then they swung open.  
"That's ColourMan," Lan identified the Navi that entered. "I haven't seen him around for a while. I thought he'd been deleted."  
"Apparently not. Seems he's just the delivery Navi now."  
ColourMan made his way down the aisle to MegaMan.  
"As promised," he announced. "I deliver the Orb of the World to you, MegaMan."  
MegaMan took it with a nod, then set it in it's place. ColourMan stood to one side of the throne, and MegaMan to the other.  
The eyes lit up on the face, shooting two beams of completely black light to the throne. The light formed into a large, dark circle, then faded entirely, leaving a Navi behind.  
Chaud couldn't believe what he saw. "Is that... Angel?"  
"No," Lan replied. "His darksoul. Devil."  
Devil resembled Angel, naturally, but there were differences. The once white wings were now black and more leathery instead of feathered, like a bat's wing. He also now had a long and distinctly devil-like black tail, spiralling up around him. It uncoiled until wound up behind him, then the eyes opened.  
"Welcome," he told them with an evil grin. "To the end of the net as you know it. When you leave this area, you will find it has changed completely, and will change whenever I decide, because I... I am now the Emperor of Cyberspace. And you _will_ bow before me in _my_ realm. _All_ will bow before me in my realm."  
"Just who are you, and how can you just do this?" someone asked.  
"I'm Devil. And I can 'just do this' because of that orb. The Orb of the World. Through it, I can change the world Cyberspace on a whim. And when I find the Orb of Space... then the real world will bow to me as well. Now..." He raised both hands, then flung them aside. On both sides, Navis appeared just beside ColourMan and MegaMan.  
"The Darkloids," Lan identified them. "Back again. That's BlizzardMan and ShadeMan on the side with MegaMan, and CloudMan and CosmoMan on the other side."  
MegaMan looked slightly uncomfortable, as if something had gone wrong. He ducked behind the throne, reappearing beside ColourMan, then whispered something to him. ColourMan nodded, then they both vanished.  
"These four Navis," Devil was saying, "Act in my stead. You will obey them even as you will me, and disobey them at your own peril. Now, begone!"  
Another wave of his arms, and everyone was thrown out of the room by massive gusts of wind, ProtoMan included. They landed in the gardens.  
Castle Area didn't seem to be any different – at least not yet.  
"ProtoMan, go back to ACDC," Lan said. "I have to see what he meant by different."  
"Chaud?" the red Navi asked, not certain if he should listen or not.  
"Do as he says, Proto."  
ACDC area was indeed different. Gone were the usual green and blue paths. In their place was a network of dark blue paths that traced the same pattern as the roads in real-world ACDC area. There were even virtual structures that mimicked their counterparts in the real world as well, though none could be entered.  
The normal green programs were now the same dark blue, and bore a crest on them that resembled Angel – or Devil – but were otherwise unchanged.  
The viruses in the area seemed to have fed off whatever power changed all this, and been changed themselves into more powerful versions. Several Navis were already having trouble fighting them off, having to work together just to begin to harm them. Those Navis with more power were already putting it to good use – Lan spotted NapalmMan blasting away at them indiscriminately, and other friends and allies also taking them on to keep less powerful Navis safe.  
"Chaud, get ProtoMan out of there, before he takes too much damage... those viruses are carving through Navis as if they're not even there."  
"I'm already on it, but what are we going to do."  
Lan pulled out his PET, then the marble MegaMan had given him.  
"The only thing we can do, I think."


	16. MegaMan: Familiar Allies

ColourMan reassured the real ProtoMan that everything was safe, then took MegaMan aside.  
"Just what happened exactly?"  
"Those Darkloids shouldn't have appeared," he replied tensely. "That wasn't in the plan."  
"Could Devil have done it?"  
"No, only I could have... or my darksoul." Realization dawned. "Oh, no. He admitted he was up to something, now we know what that was."  
"Are you insane, MegaMan? You gave him the chance to do something like this?"  
"Please, don't berate me ColourMan, I realise it was a mistake now."  
"Well what are you going to do about it?"  
"I don't know. There's one person I could call on, though whether he'd listen to me..."  
"Lan?"  
"No. Bass."  
"Must you always go looking for trouble, MegaMan?" ColourMan asked him with a pained expression. "Bass doesn't even like you."  
"I know, and I don't know how he came out of the change in reality either."  
"Now would be a good time to find out."  
MegaMan concentrated, searching, looking for him. This reality had several instances where he showed up – but the real Bass was not on the net right now, and hadn't been since the moment reality had changed.  
"He's not here."  
"Now what?"  
"Now it's left up to me again. I've got to deal with Devil. If I can bring Angel back, then I just have to deal with DarkMega again."  
"And the Darkloids?"  
"Once I break DarkMega's ability to do the same things I can, I can just will them out of existance again."  
"That's some power."  
"I don't really want to unleash it. It kinda makes me feel like a god, and I don't want that."  
"I can understand why you'd think that. What about me?"  
"You should be safe here. It looks like the Undernet has been left relatively unchanged for now." He created another marble orb, and handed it to him. "If something happens though, call me through this. I'll hear you wherever you are at the time."  
"MegaMan?"  
"Yes?"  
"Don't let anything happen to you."  
"Hey, I'm a god, remember?" he grinned back. "A reluctant one, but still a god. Nothings going to happen to me."  
ColourMan nodded, then he left, bringing himself entirely back to Geo's world.  
He needed help with this, that much was certain, but just how far could he go? He didn't want to revive any other Navis. He'd caused enough trouble with that.  
JudgeMan and Ito were still at large. He formed Hub nearby them again. Ito, as before, was completely unsurprised by this.  
"Ito, I need your help again."  
"Something bad has happened, hasn't it?"  
"I guess I can't hide it. Lan was forced to use a DarkChip because I brought back ShadeMan, and now Angel's been taken over by his darksoul, Devil. To make it worse, my own darksoul is in league with him against me, have changed almost all of cyberspace to suit them, and have brought ShadeMan and the other Darkloids back. To top it all off, it's up to me to handle the entire situation again."  
"This is a bit out of my league, Hub. I'm already held in suspicion as it is."  
"Just give me a wide berth. Me and anyone else either me or my Navi are seen with. That's all I need. I don't want to have to worry about breaking laws while I fix this."  
"Be careful, Hub. There are some things even I won't be able to overlook if you do them."  
"Just do what you can. I'll have a look at those people who are suspicious and see if I can lessen it to any extent to buy you a little more time."  
"How, exactly?"  
"Better if you don't know Ito. I don't want people getting the wrong idea."  
"I won't judge you for it, you know. You did free me. I owe you that much."  
"It's not so much a question of being judged as it is getting the wrong kind of attention."  
"I don't quite understand."  
"Good. First step on the road to wisdom, that is. I don't really want anyone finding out, to be honest."  
"As long as you know what you're doing, I suppose."  
"'natchly," he said. "I always know what I'm doing."  
"Says the boy who just admitted to having things go wrong on him."  
"Minor inconvenience," he replied diffidently, waving it aside with one hand. "I'll have it solved in no time."  
"I hope you're not overconfident, Hub."  
"Of course not. I'll see you around, Ito."  
MegaMan had only just barely pulled himself back again, when he heard something else.  
"MegaMan? MegaMan, can you hear me?" It was Lan's voice. He was using the marble orb he'd given him.  
He formed an avatar once more, this time in the same room as Lan. Chaud was also there, and ProtoMan borrowing Lan's copybot.  
"That's disturbing," Chaud said. "You just appeared out of nowhere."  
"I didn't have time to make it look more normal. You called, Lan?"  
"You know what's happening, don't you?"  
"Yeah. It's my fault. I didn't intend for it to happen."  
"What did you mean to happen?"  
"Devil was meant to just introduce himself as the administrator of Castle Area, that was all. Somehow though, my darksoul has found a way to tap what I can do, and influence things. He brought back the Darkloid Navis, and made it look like Devil did it, then tapped my ability to influence the world to alter all of cyberspace to suit them. Well, except Undernet, that is."  
"Can't you just influence things and change it back?" Chaud asked.  
MegaMan shook his head, "I wasn't the one that made the change. I can't undo it."  
"So how do we fix this then?"  
"First we defeat Devil, and bring Angel back. That should break my darksoul's hold on him. Then we have to deal with him... once I'm back in full control, he won't be able to do anything. In theory, all his changes should be undone then, and if not, I should be able to just will things to go back again."  
"And if they don't?"  
"Then I have to show Lan the truth. If at least one person knows all of the changes between this reality, and the one that existed before, reality will reset back to the original one."  
"Why not just do that in the first place?"  
"I can't. Not while my darksoul's on the loose. I have to bring him under control first, otherwise he'll cause trouble as soon as reality resets, and then I'll be the only one ready for it. He could potentially do more damage before anyone managed to stop him."  
Lan nodded, accepting this, then smiled. "So, MegaMan... I find myself in need of a Navi..."  
"Well, you know... I am a Navi..."  
"Care to work with me?"  
"Just like old times. At least for me. But give me a little time before I join you, Lan. I've got one more person I want to talk to first. I don't know if he can help, but I have to try."  
"We'll wait here for you."  
"You don't need to – I can find you wherever you are. Stay offline though. Back in a bit," he told them, and pulled back yet again.  
Now he jumped down from the tree he'd been comfortably perched in, and went looking for Geo. It was mid-afternoon here, so he probably wouldn't be stargazing yet.  
The first stop was Geo's house, but the door was locked, and trying to knock didn't work. Remembering how he'd accessed the cyberworld in the shack Mega had shown him, he climbed up onto the roof of Geo's house, and used the orange disc above the antenna. This let him inside, and onto the glowing orange paths that went around his house.  
Geo was in his room, not fused with Mega. Mega was leaning against one wall apparently dozing while Geo stared out the window.  
MegaMan dropped down onto his bedroom floor, and roused Mega from his doze.  
"I need you a moment," he told Mega.  
"Hm? Oh, it's you. I was wondering when you'd visit us."  
"Mega, can you just take part in a little experiment for me?"  
"Sure thing. Need Geo?"  
"Not yet, and only if this one works."  
"What are you up to?"  
"I want to see if I can borrow you to help out."  
"Is that allowed?"  
"We're about to find out. I've got a theory I've been working on. I think if you're in contact with the orb, I should be able to affect you."  
"Well, let's try it then."  
Mega laid a hand on the orb, and MegaMan concentrated. He found them a small, unaltered part of cyberspace that was isolated from the main net, and attempted to bring them both there.  
MegaMan's avatar formed as usual, then moments later, Mega flickered into being beside him.  
"So it does work," MegaMan said to himself. "That's useful to know."  
"Where are we?"  
"Oh, in a bit of cyberspace in the altered reality. Technically we're also still in Geo's room as well, but I've found it helps to concentrate on either here or there, so I consider us here instead."  
"Let me guess what's next. You want to see if you can bring Geo here while we're fused?"  
"If Geo doesn't mind. I could use an extra hand."  
"Well, take us back and ask him."  
MegaMan nodded, then took them back. Mega shook his head after they got back, then tapped Geo's shoulder.  
"Hey! MegaMan wants you."  
"No need to shout," Geo said reproachfully as he tugged down his goggles again. "Hey, MegaMan. What's up?"  
"Bored at all, by any chance?"  
"How did you guess?"  
"Luck. I just proved a theory with Mega's help that means I can borrow people from here to lend a hand in the altered reality. My plans have gone a bit... wrong, and I could use a bit of help with it."  
"Mega?"  
"Why are you asking me? You know whatever he needs us for is going to involve us fusing."  
"You don't have any problems with it?"  
"Of course not."  
"You can get us back here again safely, can't you?" he asked MegaMan.  
"'natchly," he replied.  
Geo thought about it, then nodded, "We'll meet you in a few moments where you first saw us fused. You go on ahead."  
"Ah... if you could open the front door for me? I came in up there," he pointed at the orange path. "And it doesn't look like I can get back up there again to get out."  
"Trust you to be a pest, " Geo said, but let him out all the same.  
MegaMan waited in the park, glancing into the orb to ensure Lan's homepage was still safe and clear. Traffic there had dropped off since the net had changed. No one wanted to go online because of the more powerful viruses, so it was the perfect place to put Geo and Mega until Lan sent him online.  
"Are we late?" Geo asked, dropping down nearby.  
"You're just in time," MegaMan replied. "I'm going to have to leave you on Lan's homepage. It's safe there, just wait for me to join you. I'll tell him your an independent Navi, he'll understand."  
"How are you going to explain our resemblance to each other?"  
"I'm not. If he starts asking questions, I'll just tell him we don't have time."  
"You're making a lot of this up as you go, aren't you?"  
"I'm just still working on it, that's all."  
Geo rolled his eyes, but said nothing, laying his hand on the orb. Mega had evidently filled him in.  
MegaMan put them on Lan's homepage, made sure they were alright, then transferred himself to Lan's PET.  
"I'm back. Did I miss anything?"  
"Getting settled in already, are you?" Lan teased.  
"Did your friend not want to help?" Chaud asked.  
"He did, actually. He's waiting for us on Lan's homepage, so why don't you two send me and ProtoMan there to meet him?"


	17. The Ocean Blue

Lan's homepage remained unchanged. A brief visit through each of the collected banners confirmed that all homepages were the same.  
MegaMan's friend Geo turned out to be a strange Navi, oddly similar to himself, but with two heads. They seemed to argue constantly, but cooperated when it came down to it.  
His homepage, quite predictably, exited onto the net at the virtual representation of his house. He and Chaud had to start sending chip data almost immediately for their two Navis to handle the viruses here.  
MegaMan solved half their problem by taking to the rooftops. The viruses might have been powerful, but they were still stupid, and didn't follow. Geo and ProtoMan followed suit.  
"I see a problem in your plan, MegaMan," Geo told him.  
"What's that?"  
"There's no way any of us are going to make it from this rooftop to the next."  
"Wanna bet? I know I can make it, and if I can, so can you two."  
"I don't see how."  
"You're dense, Geo," the other head sighed. "He's going to cheat again."  
"It's not cheating if we're the good guys," MegaMan replied airily. "After you," he offered to Geo.  
"Thanks, but I think I'll trust it _after_ you've fallen and broken an arm or something."  
"I'm not going to break anything."  
"Prove it."  
He did, easily clearing Dex's house, the house beyond, and landing on the next one with a roll.  
"Show off," Geo muttered.  
ProtoMan chuckled, then leapt after MegaMan, leaving Geo to follow on.  
The house they landed on was right beside the link to Oran Isle's net. It seemed that the numbered areas had been merged into one larger area with the rest of the changes.  
"Something's not right," ProtoMan told them. "That link doesn't look right."  
"Well duh," Chaud said, rolling his eyes. "The entire net doesn't look right."  
"Be nice," Lan murmured. "MegaMan?"  
"ProtoMan's right. It's something on the other side, but I can't see what. DarkMega's blocking me out."  
"Can't you overpower him?"  
"I can try, but I don't know what will happen either way."  
"Or we could just go through the link and see what's there," Chaud said, rolling his eyes again. "Seriously, has everyone gone dense today?"  
The trio looked sheepishly at each other, then hopped down from their perch and went through.  
"Well this is different," Geo said. "Even for me, and I've seen some strange things."  
"You don't say," MegaMan added. "I suppose we should look for a ship to use."  
The Oran area was completely changed, even more so than ACDC had been. It was now a vast ocean, with them stood on what appeared to be a hill above a small town. There were docks there, and various kinds of ships moored up.  
On the ocean itself there were already several boats and ships making their way around, some crewed by only a handful of Navis or programs, others with many more aboard. In the distance, there were two more islands. Though they were fairly distant, it was reasonable to assume they held the links to the SciLab and End areas of the net.  
"I wonder if we could crew a ship by ourselves," ProtoMan mused. "It doesn't look all that difficult."  
"Absolutely not," his operator told him. "None of us knows the slightest thing about sailing ships, and we have no idea what will happen if you fall overboard."  
"Nothing," MegaMan supplied. "You'd just sink to the bottom and have to make your way back to one of the islands. But unless you're close to them or you can swim, you'll run out of air first."  
"What a cheery thought," Mega commented. "Can you swim Geo?"  
"No, and I don't think now is a good time to try and learn."  
"Chaud's wrong anyway. I know how to sail a ship."  
"Since when?"  
"Since I still have some influence on this world, and can see how it's done from every other ship down there. ProtoMan's also wrong, and it is more difficult than it looks."  
"So what do we do?"  
"We find a ship, and ask it's captain to ferry us to one of the other links. The SciLab one, specifically, because I can still see into that one, and I know that's where we go next."  
"Why? What's there?"  
But MegaMan had already started down to the port.

The ship they boarded was identified as a galleon from an old naval nation. It was crewed almost exclusively by programs, with only a few Navis handling the things they couldn't. Aside from being an aqua-aligned Navi, the captain too was unremarkable.  
The three of them kept to the front of the ship, clear of the crew. Geo tried not to be seasick, without much luck, and to the accompaniment of Mega's loud and clear complaints.  
ProtoMan leaned against the rail calmly, while MegaMan paced the deck.  
"You're going to wear a hole in it doing that, you know," ProtoMan told him.  
"Hm?"  
"All that walking about, it'll wear out the wood."  
MegaMan glanced down distractedly. "Oh. That."  
"What's on your mind?"  
"I'm trying to figure out how to handle this situation. I can't locate either Devil or DarkMega, the former is still busy terrorising most of the net as we know it, and the latter is generally wreaking havoc and blocking me from doing a lot of things."  
"So why are we going to SciLab?"  
"ShadeMan's there."  
"And that's useful?"  
"I've got a lot of pent up frustration I'm going to take out on that giant bat brain, and I'm going to extract what I need to know from him before I delete him very painfully."  
"Hardly nice of you."  
"Proto, I've spent most of my life in the original reality being nice and playing the hero... here, I shouldn't exist at all because I'm meant to influence it from afar instead. I probably shouldn't do it, but I think after so long being like that, given the chance you can't really blame me for wanting to indulge myself a little before things go back again."  
"Is that why you went on the whole criminal thing with Match, bringing out Devil and such?"  
"I guess so. It also seemed like the ideal way to handle it at the time. If I could have arranged it to make Lan find each of the discrepancies himself..." he trailed off, staring out at the ocean in thought.  
"You'd hoped the whole thing would solve itself without having to get involved."  
"Something like that." He frowned, then waved ProtoMan over. "Is it me, or does that shadow look wrong?"  
ProtoMan looked, then cocked his head to one side. "Chaud?" he asked.  
"I'm here," he replied after a few moments. "Had to take a quick break. What's up?"  
"Have a look at that shadow."  
"Is it just me, or is it shaped like that Navi Lan told us about a while ago, that one from the aquarium?"  
"I thought so. DiveMan, wasn't it?"  
"DiveMan, you say?" MegaMan murmured, his eyes narrowed. "Hmm."  
He rested his buster against the rail and took aim.  
"You're not going to have much effect if he's underwater," ProtoMan told him.  
"Just watch," MegaMan replied. He concentrated for a moment, then his usual blue changed to the signature yellow of an electric-aligned Navi. "Just adjust for wind speed, target movement and distance, and..." he trailed off again, closing one eye to sight, then fired a sparking ring.  
"You're going to miss," Geo observed, glancing up at it."  
"Wait," MegaMan replied with a grin.  
The shadow of DiveMan grew closer as the ring powered toward him, it's aim appearing to be for just behind him.  
Then DiveMan surfaced.  
Right into the ring.  
"You know, you're a singularly unpleasant opponent."  
"I know. Aren't you glad I'm on your side? Would anyone else like to take a shot at our friend there, or would you like me to show off some more?"  
They watched the floundering and cursing DiveMan for a few moments, watching him shake a fist at them.  
"Nah. Let him go," ProtoMan said. "I think you made your point."  
"'natchly," he replied.  
"Where did you pick that up?"  
"What, 'natchly?"  
"Yeah."  
"It's something I heard ages ago," he said, concentrating again and returning to his normal colouring. "I forget exactly where."  
"What on earth possessed you to pick it up yourself?"  
"I was trying to seem like a normal kid in the real world, remember. Lan and I are alike, even in this reality, so I wanted to try to make sure there were some differences."  
"It's certainly distinctive."  
"I wonder if I should-" he broke off, his eyes distant.  
"MegaMan?"  
"Something wrong with him?" Lan's voice came.  
"I don't know, he just broke off in mid sentence."  
"Hey, MegaMan!"  
He seemed to snap out of it, shaking his head. "Huh? What? Oh, it's you two. Sorry, I just found out something."  
"What?"  
"We need to get off the ship, now."  
"There's no boats on board," Geo told him.  
"Then we need to commandeer the ship."  
"Do _what_?"  
"Devil just put a bounty out on me and ProtoMan. DiveMan was working for him, and now he's tipped the captain off to it. Any minute now, every other Navi on this ship is going to come after us."  
"If not sooner," ProtoMan nodded behind them. Already advancing up the deck were six normal Navis with the captain not far behind. "And they outnumber us."  
"Not if I can help it," MegaMan replied, one arm shifting to a cannon that blasted one into another, and both across the deck.  
"Well, there goes the neighbourhood," ProtoMan remarked, before taking on one of the Navis that had a sword active.  
Geo observed for a few moments then sighed and began picking them off with various ranged attacks.  
The fight was short and brutally effective. MegaMan dealt out mass damage, ProtoMan held them away from the others, and Geo picked them off as they grew weaker.  
Two of them managed to make their way past ProtoMan to Geo, who simply smashed their heads together, then pushed them back down again to rejoin the fray.  
Only the captain proved troublesome, but MegaMan appeared to lose his patience, wrestling him to the side of the ship, and throwing him over.  
The programs that crewed the ship had stayed clear, and now looked at them questioningly.  
"Just keep sailing the ship," MegaMan told them sourly. "I'm not having a very good day, and I don't want to take it out on you."


	18. Plot and Reclaim

ProtoMan leaned against a building, watching. "You wouldn't think it to look at him, would you?" he said.  
"He doesn't really look like the sort, no," Geo replied.  
"Do you suppose we should help him?"  
They stared down the single street to where MegaMan and ShadeMan were... brawling.  
"I think he's got it under control," Geo said, ducking as a chair headed their way.  
SciLab area had been turned into a wild west-like setting, with a handful of single street settlements scattered around. ShadeMan had been the nominal sheriff of this one, until MegaMan had picked a fight in the bar to get his attention. Once the two of them got involved, the other brawlers threw them to the streets so they wouldn't break any more of the bar, and there they'd stayed.  
ShadeMan had barely made a scratch on MegaMan, but MegaMan had dealt massive damage in return. Finally, he slammed the bat Navi against a wall. They couldn't hear what was said between them, but apparently MegaMan was satisfied, dropping ShadeMan down again and turning away.  
As he walked away, ShadeMan attempted a sneak attack, but instead impaled himself on a quickly summoned sword, and was deleted.  
"I wonder if he plans to tell Lan about all this if he sets reality straight," ProtoMan mused. "It could make for an interesting conversation, if the original Lan is anything like the one we know."  
"That was a fascinating discussion," MegaMan remarked, rejoining them. "I learned a great deal."  
"Like?"  
"Devil is holed up in Castle Area, and no one can get to him unless we deal with my DarkSoul. He slipped up and told me exactly where we can find him."  
"And?"  
"We leave for Green Town immediately. There's been a hacking of the Judge Tree, and it wasn't Prosecutor Ito." He paused. "And I need to stop by Cyber City as well. There's someone I want to talk to there. For now, we jack out, except for me – I need to speak to Chaud in person, so I'll be in the real world shortly."  
"And what about me?" Geo asked.  
"Good point... I can send you back to Echo Ridge, and call you if I need you again."  
"No offence, but I'm not sure I like this world of yours. I don't think you need my help anyway."  
"I guess I might have overestimated the opposition a bit. Thanks all the same, Geo, Mega."  
Chaud brought ProtoMan out, then turned with Lan to look behind as MegaMan appeared.  
"Not looking like a Navi again?" Lan asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"This might be the only time I get a chance to experience what it's like to be to be a real boy, like you. Besides," he said, "I like it. Anyway, Chaud, that DarkChip you found, I need to have a look at it."  
"We couldn't identify where it came from or anything," Lan said. "Even Higsby couldn't tell anything."  
"I know. It's not a normal DarkChip. When DarkMega said he was up to something, I thought he meant only one thing. I was wrong, this is a second plot he's been up to."  
Chaud handed it over, and let Hub examine it. He looked it over several times, then placed it on a table and smashed it with one fist, surprising everyone.  
A few moments later, it pulled itself back together again.  
Hub picked it up again, opened the window and threw it out.  
Moments later, it reappeared where he'd smashed it.  
"How is it doing that?" Chaud asked.  
"It's a DarkChip," Hub answered. "It's like ShadeMan or any of the Darkloids – it can't be destroyed except by another DarkChip, or unless it gets used by the right person."  
"And who's that?"  
"Who do you think he created it for?"  
"ProtoMan."  
"Exactly – because ProtoMan is a threat as well. Look at how easily you defeated HeatMan, and that's after I gave him and Match advice and a few useful upgrades to make him more of a challenge. So a Dark ProtoMan under Devil would be even more of a distraction."  
"So what can you do about it?"  
"Cheat, of course. But not just yet. Hang onto it for me. Now, we go to Cyber City."

Hub had steadfastly refused to tell anyone who he was going to see even after they entered the Expo site beside the school. He led them through several lesser known areas to a laboratory-like room, where they Doctors Wily and Regal.  
Regal seemed engrossed in his project, but Wily knew they were there immediately, and showed recognition of Lan immediately.  
"Who're your friends, Lan?" he asked.  
"This is Chaud, and his Navi ProtoMan. Programmed entirely by him."  
"Really? An impressive achievement in someone so young. And you, boy?" he said to Hub.  
"That's Hub. Not boy."  
"A strong attitude. You have the air of someone who needs something about you."  
"I need your expertise, Wily. You did extensive research into both Cybeasts and DarkSouls, right?"  
"Regal's the expert on DarkSouls, but I know plenty about them too. What do you need to know?"  
"Normally, a DarkSoul can't be harmed by anything except it's normal counterpart, or another dark-tainted soul, right?"  
"Not dark-tainted, only another DarkSoul or a Darkloid," Regal called.  
"So what about an unrelated soul, borrowing the power of a Cybeast? Would that be able to break through?"  
Regal and Wily glanced at each other for a moment.  
"Which Cybeast?" Wily asked.  
"Gregar. I can call on him still if I have to."  
Wily and Regal went to work on one of the computers, muttering to each other as they did so.  
"This won't take long," Regal told him absently. A few moments later, he said, "Only if you used a DarkChip as well."  
"Perfect. Thank you. You've been very helpful."  
"Be careful if you're using DarkChips," Regal warned.  
"Oh, don't worry about me. I know all about their effects on Navis."  
"What was that for?" Lan asked as they left again.  
"I just put the finishing touches on my plan. ProtoMan is going to have to distract and weaken my own DarkSoul so I can keep him under control. That's not the hard part though, the hard part comes afterwards. ProtoMan and I have to work extremely closely to take out Devil – since Angel and I are technically the same person, I can't directly harm Devil, which is why I have to work through ProtoMan, which will allow him to borrow my imprint of Gregar, and use the DarkChip safely because I'll take the effects of it."  
"Just how exactly do you plan to achieve that?" ProtoMan asked.  
"I'll explain after we handle DarkMega. Who's in the Judge Tree, incidentally."  
"Next stop, Green Town," Lan said. "One of these days, I'm going to stay in one place for more than a month without having to run off and save the world yet again."  
"Oh, stop complaining," Chaud said. "You like it really. I know I do."  
"Where were you when me and Angel wanted a hand?"  
"Living on the streets, remember?"  
"Hey, Hub?"  
"Yeah?"  
"What's Chaud like in the other reality? The original one?"  
There was a long silence.  
"Different," Hub replied finally, and with clear reluctance. "He stayed at his father's corporation for longer than you did here. Programmed ProtoMan a lot earlier. He and ProtoMan are regularly cursed and feared in the Undernet. He was the youngest person ever to ace all of the exams Officials take. Didn't like me or Lan much at first, and he had a bit of an arrogant attitude. Still did before reality changed, but he mellowed a little. Lan thinks of him as a friend, but Chaud thinks of us more like rivals. He'd never been beaten until Lan and I came along, and never managed to defeat us either."  
"I'm almost sorry you asked," Chaud said to Lan. "He makes me sound like a jerk."  
"Lan's called you that more than once in that reality," Hub told him. "I try to keep him from doing anything more than a little name-calling, though he once admitted he hit Chaud once when I was first taken over by DarkMega. He had good reason to at the time though."  
"What about ProtoMan?"  
"Also different, but not by as much. He tends to call Chaud 'Master Chaud' which I've never really felt was appropriate. He's a bit more independent than your ProtoMan is." They boarded the LevBus to Green town and took their seats as it departed. "To be honest with you, I prefer the two of you as you are in this reality."  
"Maybe you could do something about it?" Chaud asked.  
"No. I didn't have any kind of power like this in that reality. I might talk to them after things go back to normal though." He paused again. "If they go back to normal."  
"You don't think we'll be able to?"  
"No. I think I might be tempted not to go back. Every time I look at things, no matter how much I miss my own reality, being Lan's Navi... there always seems to be something here that seems better."  
"You don't know what to decide."  
"No, and I don't have long left to make my choice either."

Hub said very little after they got off the LevBus and headed for the Green Town courthouse. At some point he'd apparently talked to Ito, as the Prosecutor had arranged admission for them to the maintenance area so they could jack in.  
Chaud sent ProtoMan in, while Hub just vanished to reappear on Lan's PET when it was connected up, back as MegaMan and waiting for them. JudgeMan also met them there, to disable the usual security systems that would have inconvenienced their progress.  
True to his word, DarkMega was waiting for them.  
"I thought a DarkSoul couldn't exist separate from it's counterpart?" Lan asked MegaMan.  
"Normally they can't – but he's using the same abilities I am, which makes us both real if we want to be. He also can't see me... I hope. If all goes well, he'll think JudgeMan and ProtoMan are the only ones here, and I want him to believe that. I'll intervene when he least expects it, or if either of you get in trouble."  
"What do you want us to do, MegaMan?" JudgeMan inquired in his formal tone.  
"Just keep him distracted. Get into a fight if you have to, but keep him here."  
He hung back and waited, watching them confront him. He didn't pay much attention to what was said, instead he focused on blocking any attempts DarkMega might make with his abilities.  
He didn't try much though, and didn't seem surprised when he found he couldn't.  
Unsurprisingly, a fight broke out between them. DarkMega was as quick as he remembered, but ProtoMan was quicker. JudgeMan couldn't keep up with the two, having to fall back himself until almost getting deleted again. Ito prudently withdrew him after that.  
"MegaMan," Lan murmured. "Chaud's DarkChip is on purple fire."  
"Ignore it," he replied. "He's trying to lure Chaud into using it. Take it off him if you have to, but don't let him use it. I need it for Devil."  
"I don't think he is going to use it. When are you going to step in?"  
"When he commits his full attention to ProtoMan. He has to be distracted enough for me to overpower him without risking... something."  
"You're not telling me everything."  
"Trust me, you don't want to know what the 'something' could be. Destructive doesn't begin to describe it."  
ProtoMan stepped up his attacks, several times breaking through his opponents defences. A few times, when he cut DarkMega, MegaMan showed signs of injury.  
"I'm going to regret letting him do this if he cuts him any more," he muttered to himself.  
"Want a recovery chip?"  
"Absolutely not! If you heal me, you'll heal him as well, and risk him discovering my presence."  
"Not a good idea."  
"No. Excuse me. It's time for me to step in. Grab any DarkChip."  
"What?"  
"You heard me. I'm going to hate myself for doing it, but if I need it, it'll guarantee he'll submit to me."  
"After this is over, I'm going to lock up all my DarkChips and never touch them again... I'm using them far too often."  
"You don't use them. We Navis do."  
"Same difference. Operators and Navis share a link together, we both use them."  
"Just send the chip data, Lan. And keep your voice down, if he hears you..."  
"I know. Just tell me when to send it."  
MegaMan stalked his DarkSoul, placing each foot silently and purposefully as he moved around the battle until behind so he could activate the DarkChip.  
DarkMega apparently sensed something, turned sharply, then exclaimed, "You!" swinging a fist for him.  
He didn't bother to reply, catching the fist and deflecting the blow with lightning reflexes, then dealing out his own blow. DarkMega vanished.  
"That's right," he replied to the empty air. "Me. And don't you forget it."  
"Tell me something, MegaMan," Lan said. "Just what exactly would have happened if he'd noticed you too early?"  
"We'd end up in a battle that would probably have destroyed the Judge Tree, most of Green Town and it's local cyberspace. If not completely rearrange them all."  
"Rearrange them how?"  
"By moving them to other places. Lots of them, probably. Sort of like an explosion."  
"And you didn't tell us, why?"  
"Oh, I was fairly sure I could handle him. Do you mind if we go now? I want to see if the net has returned to normal or not."  
"Can't you just do that..." ProtoMan waved a hand vaguely, as if to suggest some mystical power.  
"Wouldn't be a good idea just yet. Give it a little time. Jack us out, you two," he told Chaud and Lan.


	19. The darkness in the Castle

MegaMan remained in Lan's PET and dozed. He claimed it was so he could concentrate on keeping DarkMega fully under his control.  
This meant that until he woke up, they were left to themselves. ProtoMan took his lead from MegaMan, and took a nap. He didn't need it, of course, but he pulled off the appearance of sleep.  
Chaud and Lan had headed home again.  
"What do you think will happen?" Chaud asked in his usual quiet voice.  
"We'll win, of course," Lan replied. "We can't lose."  
"I meant after things go back."  
"I guess they'll be the way used to be then."  
"I wish I could stay the same. I don't like how I sound in the original reality."  
"Maybe you will. Maybe MegaMan will do something."  
"He said he couldn't, I think."  
"I think there's something he can do anyway. I've got an idea or two to put to him. If nothing else, he'll be able to show a few people what happened here."  
"How do you plan to do that?"  
"He's a Navi, right? Which means he's got some space he can store things in."  
"I get you. We could leave a message for ourselves with him."  
"That's the idea."  
"Three at the most," MegaMan murmured sleepily. "And even if you kept it short, that's pushing it."  
Lan considered it. "How about me, ProtoMan and Chaud?"  
"We'll see," he yawned. "I've got things under control here."  
"That's good. We're home."  
"Home," Chaud said with a chuckle. "It still seems odd having a place I can call that again."  
"You're welcome to keep on calling it that. Feel up to going online, MegaMan?"  
"Thanks for the offer, but not just yet. Devil would be able to tell if I went online."  
Chaud sent ProtoMan online instead. Lan's homepage was packed with other Navis. ProtoMan tried squeezing through the crowd, but didn't get far.  
MegaMan sighed from his place in the PET, and created a second avatar of himself nearby.  
"Stand aside!" he ordered in a commanding tone. The crowds parted, letting them out onto the main net.  
"I thought you weren't going online?" ProtoMan asked.  
"Technically, I'm not here. He can't detect me, but I can't do anything either."  
They looked around.  
"I thought you said the net should have gone back to normal."  
"It should have."  
"It looks like only the viruses are back to normal."  
MegaMan concentrated, his second avatar flickering out of existance.  
"Well there's manners for you," ProtoMan remarked. "He didn't even say goodbye."  
"Stop complaining," MegaMan replied from the PET. "My DarkSoul anticipated what we've done. Apparently he didn't use my abilities to cause this, it was done through the same power that makes DarkChips work instead, by Devil."  
"So we have to go after Devil?"  
"Of course. Which you're doing anyway."  
ProtoMan gave a theatrical sigh, "Always leaving the real heroing up to me."  
He headed through the link to Castle Area. It was deserted. The portcullis gate into the castle courtyard was blocked off by a barrier of purple fire. The entrance to the jousting area was also blocked off, but the gardens were open.  
He moved quietly through them and into the maze, listening intently. The air seemed to grow frigid as he progressed, until it began to snow.  
Rounding a corner, he had to quickly dodge aside as a massive snowball rolled down.  
When it passed, he risked another glance. It had come from a long straight corridor, with narrow alcoves in it. As he looked, another snowball rounded the far corner, and headed right for him.  
He hurried ahead, ducking into an alcove at the last minute, then continuing onwards again.  
Around the corner was the source of the snowballs. BlizzardMan stood creating snowball after snowball.  
ProtoMan didn't hesitate, making a dash at him, lunging. BlizzardMan turned too late, getting struck once more, then getting deleted.  
"Something's not right. That was too easy."  
"Devil doesn't care about them," MegaMan explained. "They're just here to slow you down. He knows you're here, and that you're coming, but he doesn't know if he can beat you or not."  
"So he's trying to wear me down."  
"That's the idea. Be careful, ProtoMan. There's still three other Darkloids left, remember."  
"Can you give me an idea of where they are?"  
"CloudMan is to your right some way, but there's no direct route there."  
"Then why don't I make one?"  
He carved into the hedge beside him, then the next one, and the next, coming up on CloudMan from behind. He too was deleted almost too easily.  
"No one else in the maze," MegaMan told him. "One's in the courtyard, the other's at the jousting area. Deleting the two here seems to have unlocked it."  
"I'm guessing it's CosmoMan," Lan said.  
"I don't know, I can't tell for certain."  
The jousting area was empty except for the picket fence the knights would ride beside, and a horse, saddled and ready to go decked out in the same colours as ProtoMan. There was even a lance nearby.  
"Fancy a game, ProtoMan?" a voice called. "Think you can take on the cosmos?"  
"I'm not afraid of you," he replied. "Show yourself."  
"Then mount up, and face me."  
"Chaud, I need you a moment."  
"What's up?"  
"I need to switch the sword for a shield."  
"One moment."  
ProtoMan mounted while he waited, picking up the lance. It took him a few moments to figure out how to hold it.  
"It's done. The changes should be coming to you now."  
They did. He nudged the horse to the picket line, taking up a place on one side.  
At the far end, CosmoMan stood astride another horse, similarly decked out in his own colours.  
"Told you so," Lan said.  
"Shut up, Lan," ProtoMan told him. "Let me concentrate."  
"What if you lose?"  
"I don't know the meaning of that," ProtoMan replied confidently, sending his horse into a charge.  
Their first pass was a complete miss, but on the second, CosmoMan struck home hard on ProtoMan. He managed to stay in the saddle, but he'd lost his lance when he'd been hit. There was no replacement.  
"Uh-oh," he said, seeing CosmoMan bearing down on him already. He blocked the blow with the shield, but was still without a weapon.  
"Damn," MegaMan said. "I'm going to have to get involved a little earlier than I wanted. Lan, find a lance chip. Chaud, grab any chip that affects ProtoMan's buster, and activate a soul unison with it."  
"I don't have any unisons, MegaMan," ProtoMan protested.  
"You do now. Watch out!"  
ProtoMan blocked again.  
"You want me to send the lance chip?" Lan asked.  
"Not yet, and not to me. Wait until after the unison happens. Chaud'll need it."  
"Got it," Chaud said. "I'm activating the unison now."  
MegaMan vanished from Lan's PET. ProtoMan took on MegaMan's signature blue colour with the yellow marks. The crest on his chest also changed to MegaMan's.  
"Now," ProtoMan said, but sounding like MegaMan. "Send us the lance chip, Chaud."  
"Us?"  
"I'll explain in a moment."  
The right arm formed into the lance. ProtoMan braced himself, charged, and unhorsed CosmoMan, impaling him on the end of the lance. He didn't let up, still charging, now toward a tree until the lance was embedded in the trunk. CosmoMan slammed hard up against the trunk.  
ProtoMan leapt off the horse, the lance fading.  
"Sword!" he called to Chaud. The shield returned to a sword, and he went to work finishing CosmoMan off.  
"Three down, one to go," he said, this time in ProtoMan's voice.  
"What just happened to you? And where's MegaMan?"  
"I'm here," ProtoMan replied, once more in MegaMan's voice. "I used the unison to fuse us together so we could work together. It's powered up our attacks, but ShadeMan, if not Devil as well, will recognise that we're fused. I had hoped to surprise Devil with it, as a kind of trump card."  
"Is ProtoMan alright?"  
"I'm fine," ProtoMan replied, his own voice. "It's a bit odd, but nothing to worry about."  
"Good," MegaMan said. "We've a date with an oversized bat and a devil, and we don't want to be late. The entrance to the castle courtyard should be open now."  
It was. The courtyard, unlike everywhere else, had Navis all around. They lined the battlements, filled almost all of the courtyard itself, stood on carts and barrels. They were everywhere.  
The portcullis of the gate dropped with a clang as they passed through. The crowd rapidly swarmed into the area, trapping them in the middle, jeering and booing at them. Some even threw fruit.  
"Charming reception," Chaud murmured.  
"It's about to get even more interesting," a voice called down from the only unoccupied balcony. Devil stood on it, smirking at them. "You're an interesting opponent, but the time's come for you to be deleted. This is my world, after all – I can't have renegades like you causing trouble."  
"You can't stop us, Devil," ProtoMan called up to him. "We'll stop you."  
"You'll have to reach me first. ShadeMan!"  
The bat-Navi dropped down nearby.  
"You called?"  
"We have a guest. I believe it's your lunch."  
"How fun. Do excuse me... I feel like a banquet."  
ShadeMan rose up and dived down at them. ProtoMan and MegaMan, working in unison, blocked the blow as they had previously. This time though, ShadeMan's power was much stronger than before, not just pushing them back, but down to the floor.  
He landed on top of them, hissing. MegaMan took over control at that point, creating a whip of pure fire, and lashing away. ShadeMan jerked away with a screech at the first strike, and the second drove him off them completely.  
MegaMan continued to lash him with it until ShadeMan let out a massive sonic burst that appeared to delete a huge portion of the crowd with it. They were thrown back against one wall, pinned there.  
ShadeMan dived down again, headed for them, but ProtoMan resumed control, reacting quickly. He rolled aside just moments before ShadeMan hit them, then swing his sword back at him. ShadeMan vanished, reappearing nearby.  
"What's this? You can harm me now? So, you used the DarkChip!"  
"He hasn't figured it out," MegaMan said. "He doesn't know I'm here."  
"And because you're here, I can hurt him," ProtoMan finished.  
"Right. Don't give us away yet. We can do this."  
MegaMan took over once more, picking up the data for one of the Vulcan chips sent by Chaud. He exploited this, forming both arms into the Vulcan cannons, opening fire with both.  
ShadeMan dodged to one side, but found himself blocked by the fire of the other cannon. MegaMan used this to his advantage, cornering him.  
"All yours, ProtoMan," he said.  
"Send the chips for our combo, Chaud," ProtoMan said.  
First were the sonic booms that he'd used on HeatMan in his first battle, holding ShadeMan in the corner. He followed up with a flurry of strikes at high speed, then backed off again, keeping his distance.  
"What are you doing?" MegaMan asked, watching ShadeMan get up and head toward them again, picking up speed.  
"Finishing him off. Chaud?"  
"Do it."  
ProtoMan braced himself, focusing and sword at the ready.  
ShadeMan drew closer, his eyes alight with insanity.  
At the last moment, ProtoMan activated the chip data. He vanished, reappearing just beyond where ShadeMan had been. ShadeMan tumbled, rolled and stopped.  
"Missed me!"  
Then his expression turned curious, and he seemed to split in half, one half sliding off the other.  
"I never miss," ProtoMan told him, watching him finally delete.  
"This seems familiar, somehow," MegaMan mused.  
"It's the same tactics we used on HeatMan. You were watching, as I recall."  
"You noticed me?"  
"I did, but I was a little busy at the time. Are we alright?"  
"We took a few blows, but nothing major."  
ProtoMan nodded, heading into the castle walls.


	20. The Means to the End

Devil sighed. ShadeMan had failed again.  
He didn't bother to revive him, or any of the other Darkloids. They weren't worth the effort.  
Now ProtoMan was running loose through his Castle, deleting every virus in sight and apparently not taking the slightest damage. He wasn't even tired.  
He did look different, but it was probably nothing. His creator probably just got bored with the normal colouring. DarkMega had concocted some strange explanation for it that involved MegaMan, but it sounded highly unlikely.  
Devil took down the Orb that had been placed here when he took over things. If even half of what MegaMan had said about it was true, he should have been able to do anything he wanted with it, but it seemed more like just an ordinary glass ball. Had he been conned here too?  
There was a knocking at the doors. He glanced down the throne room at them. No one was meant to be here. Could ProtoMan have reached him already?  
"Who is it?" he asked.  
The doors burst inwards, turning into wood fragments that littered the room. Whatever did it also caused most of the wall it had been set in to collapse, along with a fair portion of the castle.  
When the rubble cleared, ProtoMan was stood there, totally unharmed. There wasn't even a speck of dust on him.  
"Your worst nightmare," he told Devil. "Surrender now, and it'll be as painless as possible."  
"You can't possibly expect me to believe that."  
"We can, and we will."  
"The very fact that you deleted ShadeMan means that you used the DarkChip, ProtoMan. That in turn means you're mine."  
Devil raised a hand, and tried to call forth ProtoMan's DarkSoul. He found nothing at all, until something that was not a DarkSoul lashed out back at him. He couldn't see what it was, or what hit him, but whatever it was hurt enough to drive him to the floor.  
It lasted only a few moments though, and Devil was soon back on his feet.  
"I don't belong to anyone, not even my operator. We're friends, and allies."  
"Impossible... nothing but those tainted by darkness could even begin to harm ShadeMan."  
"Oh, usually. But we found a way around it. So, will you surrender?"  
"Never!"  
"How tiresome," ProtoMan sighed, then charged at Devil. Devil quickly called up a sword of his own. They blocked and parried, dodged and struck. He couldn't break through ProtoMan's defences, but ProtoMan didn't seem to be able to break through his either.  
He strengthened them all the same, to be safe, and called up Swordy viruses to distract them.  
ProtoMan seemed to pause for a moment, then glanced at each virus in turn. They vanished as soon as he did so.  
He then paused again, then nodded.  
"You've still got a chance to give up," he told Devil. Devil merely snarled his defiance.  
ProtoMan crouched, raising his arms up above him as if calling on some god. He glowed for a moment, then was enveloped in fire, becoming a shadow within them.  
When he emerged, Devil couldn't believe what he saw. Somehow, ProtoMan had Beasted Out, calling on Gregar.  
The ProtoMan-Gregar gave a fierce roar, summoning a great sword that would have to be held two-handed by any other Navi, and resumed the attack. Gregar's speed and power coupled with ProtoMan's natural skill began to break through Devil's defences, sending him reeling back. He restored them with the dark power, calling on it more and more just to keep it even, let alone break back through to cause any damage.  
"Give up, Devil," the beast told him. "You can't beat us."  
"I'll never give up!"

Chaud and Lan sat watching the battle in awe. MegaMan had advised them not to send any chip data they didn't ask for, as it would have thrown everything off.  
MegaMan had also restored the link to Lan's PET to him, as he'd told them it was going to be necessary. Slotted into it were the chips to make up the LifeSword advance. In Chaud's was the DarkChip that Devil had created for ProtoMan. Both were ready to send.  
"He's not going to give in," MegaMan said. "We're going to have to risk it."  
"Try not to delete him, please," Lan pleaded. "I'd like to have Angel back again intact."  
"We'll do our best, Lan," ProtoMan promised. "Are we ready, Mega?"  
"Whenever you are."  
"Send the data, boys."  
Devil apparently noticed the transmission of the DarkChip.  
"You plan to use my power against me? Bold plan, but I'll make you mine before you beat me, ProtoMan!"  
"Oh, really?" MegaMan replied. It was the first time he'd spoken aloud to Devil. "You'll have to go through me if you want him."  
"Damn you, MegaMan!"  
"Brave of you, damning a god. Just imagine what I might do."  
"You're no god of mine!" he retorted, launching another assault. ProtoMan had to step back until the force of the blows, but took no damage.  
The two Navis activated the sent data at exactly the same time. MegaMan took the effects of the DarkChip, then channelled it into the LifeSword.  
ProtoMan took the LifeSword and main control, and started his own attack on Devil at full force and with deadly speed.  
Devil was pushed back, step by step, until he was stood before the throne.  
ProtoMan delivered one final strike.  
"Have mercy," Devil croaked, collapsing onto the throne.  
No one moved or made a sound for minutes afterwards. ProtoMan's beast out cancelled itself, as did the LifeSword and the unison. MegaMan formed his avatar beside him, moving to Devil's side and tending to him.  
Lan found his voice first.  
"Is he..."  
"No." MegaMan replied. "But he's very weak. Give me some time."  
Devil flickered, his appearance returning to that of Angel. He looked in bad shape.  
Still MegaMan tended to him. Angel's injuries began to clear up.  
"I've done what I can. I've purged Devil from him, but he's still exhausted, and is going to need time to recover."  
He touched one hand to Angel's forehead. Angel disappeared, reappearing in Lan's PET.  
"You three ought to work on those messages," he told them. "I know exactly what I have to do to reset reality now, but there's one last thing I have to do before I do that."  
"Could you make it four messages?" Lan asked, but MegaMan shook his head.  
"I already know what Angel would say, Lan. You don't need to worry about it."  
MegaMan now also vanished, leaving ProtoMan alone.  
"What was it like in the unison with him?" Chaud asked.  
"I wouldn't want to come up against him, I'll say that. With the right operator, he's got an impressive turn of power behind him. I learned a few things too."  
"Like what?"  
"For a few moments, he showed me the original reality as he remembered it. Only a few small pieces of it, but enough. I'm starting to understand him a bit better, I think."

MegaMan was back in Echo Ridge, and considering whether he really should set reality straight or not while he waited for the Orb to go back to when he wanted.  
He had some answers now, and understood the original incident just a bit better.  
The Orb pulsed, showing the scene. It was identical, of course.  
There he was, with ProtoMan, in Echo Ridge. He watched them as they met Geo, and as Geo handed him the orb.  
ProtoMan and the past MegaMan started to leave. He took his cue from that, preparing to form his avatar.  
When they reached the link back to the net, he formed his avatar.  
"Hand me the orb," he demanded of his past self. "I can prevent the trouble it will cause."  
His past self sighed. "I'm being confronted by me again. That's more than suspicious enough."  
"You don't understand. You have to trust me."  
"You've given me no reason to."  
"I don't have time to."  
"Tough luck then."  
"Don't hold me responsible for what happens next," he warned.  
"_We_ won't," ProtoMan told him irritably.  
MegaMan nodded, stepping onto the link and appearing to leave, instead withdrawing his avatar.  
"Well that was strange," he heard the past Lan murmur.  
MegaMan left them to it, going looking for Geo. He was, of course, stargazing. Mega saw him coming, and let Geo know.  
"What's on your mind?"  
"This might be the last time I see you," MegaMan shrugged. "I thought it only polite to say goodbye. I know we haven't exactly talked much, but I didn't want to leave before I'd done it."  
"So you've made up your mind what you're going to do?" Mega asked.  
"No. Not yet. If I do decide to stay the god of the world, I'll go somewhere else. See a bit more of this world while I do."  
"I can recommend a few places," Geo offered.  
"Afterwards. If I decide to. It was nice meeting you. Thanks for showing me that link, by the way Mega."  
"You mean the one that you ran from?"  
"Yeah, that one."  
"Just what did you see in there?"  
"You don't want to know," he replied. It still haunted him, but knowing that if he went back it would become an impossibility made him feel better.  
"Good luck, whatever you decide."  
"You too," MegaMan replied.  
He returned to the park he'd first appeared in. The link was back, but not active. He had to show Lan something before that happened.  
He reformed his Hub avatar in Lan's room. Lan and Chaud were waiting for him.  
"We've got your messages. One from each of us, to our other self in the other reality."  
Lan handed him a chip. He took it, downloaded the data into himself, then handed it back.  
"I've got something to show you, Lan."  
"What's that?"  
"You remember when you first found out what I was, back at dad's lab?"  
"You're my brother, aren't you?"  
"That's right. I still am, even here. I can link myself to you, so you can see the original reality."  
"The same way you did for ProtoMan?"  
"Yes."  
Lan nodded. Hub put a hand to his brother's forehead, creating the link.  
Lan breathed in sharply, as if surprised.  
A few moments later, he removed Hub's hand himself.  
"I remember now," he said softly. "You really are..."  
"I know," Hub said simply. "I'm your brother, after all."  
"And best friend, and my Navi."  
"I don't know what will happen to this reality after it goes back... but if it still exists somehow... tell Angel I think he's done a great job of replacing me here."  
Lan nodded.  
"Goodbye, MegaMan. It was nice meeting you."  
"I'll see you in a few minutes, Lan."  
He pulled back, and was about to turn through the link, but remembered something, finding ColourMan and the original ProtoMan. Both were sleeping.  
MegaMan still had some of this reality's ProtoMan left over from their unison. He made contact with the original, and left it with him. Hopefully, it'd stay with him.  
"You're leaving, aren't you?"  
It was ColourMan.  
"In a few moments," he replied. "It's almost time."  
"Have you decided?"  
There was a long pause before he answered. "Yes," he said finally.  
ColourMan nodded, laying a hand on one shoulder.  
"As long as you remember this reality, it'll still exist."  
"Maybe."  
"Don't be gloomy, MegaMan. Look on the bright side. If nothing else, you've had an interesting experience."  
"Yeah, I guess so."  
"Do me a favour?"  
"What's that?"  
"Pay a call on me after you get back. I'll still be here."  
MegaMan nodded, shook ColourMan's hand, then left.  
The link in the park of Echo Ridge was active and waiting for him.  
He hesitated one last time, taking one last look at Echo Ridge, the orb, and the alternate reality, then finally stepped through.  
The Orb dropped onto the ground nearby as he disappeared. A yellow hand picked it up, and turned to another figure in a dark robe.  
"You see?" it said. "You can test anyone you want like this, at no risk to yourself."  
"Interesting," the second figure said.  
"And the demonstration has shown us a great deal about MegaMan too."  
"I already knew most of it. I've taken him on before."  
"So you said. Will you use what you've learned next time you challenge him?"  
"Perhaps. For now, I want to get back to the real net."  
The two followed MegaMan through the link. On the other side, the yellow Navi touched a hand to the link, severing the connection to Echo Ridge. It could exist freely by itself once more.  
"You know where to find me, Bass," the Navi said, leaving.


	21. Life as Normal Again

"Lan? Lan! Are you alright?"  
"Huh? Yeah... what happened?"  
"There was an error when I went through that link, but I'm alright. I got back safely. Just a few minor injuries."  
Lan looked at his PET. MegaMan was there, looking for all the world like he'd been there all along.  
For some reason, a name stuck in his mind.  
"There wasn't another Navi, was there?" he asked.  
"Only ProtoMan, why?"  
"I remember one for some reason. I think... he was called Angel."  
MegaMan shifted uneasily in the PET. "I uh... think I know why."  
"Go on."  
"The error... well, it kinda disconnected me from the PET for a bit. Lots of things got changed, it was like an entirely different reality, and you had a different Navi."  
"Angel."  
"Yeah. I had to make you find out some stuff so things could go back again."  
"That sounds kinda crazy, MegaMan."  
"I think I've got something that'll convince you otherwise. In that other reality, you recorded a message for me to give to you."  
"What's it say?"  
"I dunno, I was busy when he recorded it. I'll play it back."  
The PET's screen changed, showing Lan with his room behind him. Chaud sat on Lan's bed behind him. He looked different though.  
"Hey, me," he said. "I guess reality got put back to normal if you're watching this. I don't know how much MegaMan has told you, about this reality, but you can believe him. Of course, he is our brother – I don't think we've got any reason not to." He appeared to think for a moment, then continued. "Try to be nicer to Chaud, by the way."  
"As if!" the real Lan snorted.  
"He's nicer than you think, or at least the Chaud I know is. Just try to get along. Oh... and by the way. Keep up that reputation of yours. You and MegaMan are an unstoppable team, I know that from a little experience."  
"Time, Lan," the recording's Chaud told him. Lan nodded.  
"Well, see you around, Lan. Maybe."  
The recording finished, restoring the PET to it's normal view with MegaMan.  
"What did he mean by 'a little experience'?"  
"Oh, at one point he almost lost Angel, so I stood in for him. He got to operate me like you do."  
"Was he better than me?"  
"The same as you. You're both Lan, just because he had a different Navi doesn't mean he was any better or worse."  
"I wish I could have gone with you on this adventure of yours."  
"I'll tell you all about it later. I've got four other people I want to see first though."  
"Who?"  
"First two are Chaud and ProtoMan. They also recorded messages to themselves. Then there's a Navi in the Undernet who asked me to pay a call on him when I got back, and after that, I want to talk to dad."  
"Do we really have to go see Chaud?"  
"Yes, we do. I've got to deliver his message."  
"Oh, alright then."

Chaud was examining ProtoMan, ensuring the link hadn't damaged him in any way. MegaMan had vanished because of it, and there had been a serious error reported, so it made sense to check.  
There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him though, just some extra data that he'd examine later, so he turned to the data on the odd link.  
Reports had placed three Navis in the area just after the error, but as no one had been around, there were no details on any of them.  
"There's someone to see you," ProtoMan told him.  
"Who?"  
"Lan."  
Chaud nodded, glancing up.  
"I'm sorry, Lan. I don't know what's happened to MegaMan."  
"That's alright. He told me himself." He showed his PET to Chaud.  
"What happened?" Chaud asked MegaMan.  
"I'll explain afterwards. I've got a recorded message for you, Chaud."  
"From?"  
"You."  
"What? That's impossible."  
"Just watch it," MegaMan sighed.  
Chaud insisted on having the message played back on one of the monitors.  
MegaMan played the message.  
On the monitor appeared Lan's room. Lan was sat on his bed, with Chaud sat in front of Lan's computer, facing them. The recorded Chaud was dressed differently, and his hair wasn't dyed white, but it was unmistakably him.  
"You're questioning whether this is real or not," he said. "Don't worry. It is. Well, technically, anyway, it's real to me, but this is a different reality to yours. Anyway, I don't have long, so I'll keep it short. MegaMan told me what you're like. I think you need re-think the way you are. Lan and I are good friends here, and there's no reason you can't be too. Just be glad you had a home for as long as you did, unlike me. You _don't_ want to find out what it was like for me. MegaMan can probably tell you if you really want to know, but I think you'll regret asking just as much as I did when Lan asked him what you were like."  
"Time," ProtoMan's voice said.  
"Think about it, Chaud," the recorded Chaud continued. "I'm sure you're not as unreasonable as you sound."  
The recording ended. Chaud glared at MegaMan.  
"What? I had nothing to do with that, I just took his recording and delivered it to you."  
"Just what did you tell him?"  
"I told him the truth."  
"Seriously?"  
"Honestly."  
"Tell me what he meant by that home bit."  
"Oh, in that reality, when you and your father started falling out regularly, you left home and tried to go by yourself for a time. You didn't do very well at it, and ended up being homeless for a long time until I nudged Lan into giving you a hand."  
"Is that why I looked different?"  
"Yup. It's also why the ProtoMan in that reality was a lot more different too. You programmed him after Lan helped you out."  
"What about all the stuff I did here? What happened to that?"  
"Lan handled it, with Angel."  
"Who?"  
"I guess I forgot. Angel was Lan's Navi, because I didn't exist in that one."  
"So how do you know about it? How did they know about you?"  
"I was... kind of like... well, a bit of a god," MegaMan replied nervously. "I had to influence things from afar instead. I sometimes created a kind of avatar of me in the world to get things moving better."  
"You didn't tell me about that," Lan said.  
"I was going to tell you about it later. I've got another message, by the way. For ProtoMan."  
"From ProtoMan?" Chaud asked.  
"'natchly," MegaMan replied. They looked at him, puzzled. "Oh, forget it," he sighed. "I'll route the message to the monitor."  
ProtoMan now appeared on the screen. Unlike the other messages, ProtoMan got straight to the point.  
"I'm told you're more independent than me," he said. "You don't need to be. Take a leaf from Lan and MegaMan. If you're friends with Chaud, and let him support you the way Lan does his Navi, you'll do better. I reckon you might even stand a chance against him." He paused, then continued, "Maybe if you can do that, you'll be able to pick up his soul unison. Believe me, if your one is even half as powerful as the one I experienced was, you won't be left disappointed. Oh, by the way... drop the 'Master' bit. See you around, ProtoMan. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."  
"You have a soul unison?" ProtoMan asked MegaMan.  
"'natchly," he said again. "Just no one's ever managed to get it before. Maybe you'll be the first. Well... second, since he beat you to it."  
"Alright MegaMan," Chaud said in a hard tone. "I think it's time you told us exactly what happened."  
MegaMan shifted uneasily. "Do I really have to?"  
"Chaud's not the only one who wants to know," Lan said.  
"And I want to find out more about my counterpart," ProtoMan added.  
MegaMan sighed. "Can it at least wait until I've gone and seen the other two people I want to talk to?" Seeing their looks he added, "It won't take long, really."  
"Go on then," Chaud told him. "I'll hold you to that promise."  
"Thanks Chaud."

"Why are we even in the Undernet, MegaMan?" Lan asked.  
"Because there's someone here I want to see."  
"Who?"  
"You'll see when I get there. I think I go left here."  
"You think?"  
"Last time I came here, I had a few advantages."  
He continued running along the twisting, winding routes of the Undernet, fighting off the occasional virus. It felt good battling the way he was used to once more, and having his brother operate him again. It had been one of the main reasons he'd let reality go back.  
He found the area he was after.  
"You made good time," ColourMan greeted him. "Everything went well?"  
"Yep. Everything back again. Your friend?"  
"He vanished not long ago. I assumed it was because he went back to being himself."  
"Am I missing something here?" Lan asked.  
"Oh, hello there Lan," ColourMan said. "We're just finishing a discussion we started before he sorted out reality."  
"Wait. You weren't affected by it?"  
"Oh, something tried to affect me, but I avoided getting modified by it."  
"Who was your friend?"  
"I don't know for sure," he lied. "He looked like a human, but MegaMan told me he was a Navi. He didn't know who he was or anything, so I looked after him."  
"MegaMan?"  
"What?"  
"Anything else you want to add?"  
"Not really. I got ColourMan to lend a hand with a little plot-"  
"Little!" ColourMan objected. "You call that little!"  
"I admit it did kind of get out of hand."  
"Out of hand... you ended up creating an entirely new area on the net, then causing mass panic on the net because things got out of your control, and had to drag in help to fix it again."  
"I got it sorted it out, didn't I? It wasn't all that hard."  
ColourMan stared at him for a few moments, then threw his hand skyward with a cry of, "Why me?"  
"You did agree to help, remember."  
"I'm starting to wonder why."  
MegaMan chuckled. "I'll stop by again sometime, ColourMan. I've got some other things to do as well."  
"Here, take this." ColourMan handed him some data. "Add it to your homepage."  
"Another banner."  
"It'll get you here quicker."  
"Thanks."

Lan and Chaud were waiting for MegaMan to make an appearance. Lan had left his PET with their dad and a copybot. MegaMan had then asked Lan to go back to Chaud and wait, so he could surprise them with what they were up to.  
"What's taking him so long?" Lan grumped.  
"Why are you asking me?" Chaud answered, not looking up.  
"I dunno. What're you working on?"  
"Some extra data I found attached to ProtoMan. I'm trying to access it."  
"Why not get ProtoMan to do it?"  
"I don't know if it's safe or not. It's suspicious enough as it is."  
"Why's that?"  
"It's got the same signature as data ProtoMan would have created, but he didn't create it."  
"Maybe the other ProtoMan did then."  
"I didn't think of that." He looked up and grudgingly added, "Thanks."  
"Want me to see what I can get from it?" ProtoMan asked.  
"Be careful with it," Chaud warned.  
"Of course."  
He fell silent. Chaud waited with obvious tension.  
"Lan was right," ProtoMan announced finally. "But it wasn't left by him. MegaMan borrowed it from the other one and attached it to me."  
"What does it contain?"  
"A few bits of the other me. Some memories, a few notes. He really was different to me."  
"Of course," MegaMan's voice came from the door. "He could hardly not be. I know that better than anyone, I used the unison to fuse with him and found out a lot about him."  
They looked over, seeing a human-looking boy, dressed all in blue. He resembled Lan, but had longer hair in a blue-black colour.  
He saw their puzzled looks again and laughed.  
"I guess it worked then. I got dad to customize my program just a bit. When I use a copybot now, this is what I look like."  
"What gave you the idea?" Chaud asked.  
"In the other reality, I got to find out what it's like being like you and Lan, a real boy. I kinda missed it here, so I went as close as I can get, which is this."  
"What's with the different hair?" Lan asked him.  
"I felt like a change. I like it better this way. I wish I could keep it this way when I go back to the PET, but dad got a bit distracted seeing just how far he could push the limits of this sort of thing before we got to it."  
"At least we'll be able to tell you apart," ProtoMan remarked.  
"I don't think anyone would have had any trouble," Chaud said, shaking his head. "Anyway, you've got an adventure to tell us about."  
"Oh, alright then," MegaMan sighed, taking a seat. "I guess I should tell you what I got up to..."


	22. Life Not As Normal

MegaMan was still recounting his adventure to Chaud and Lan. ProtoMan was pretending not to listen, but doing badly at it.  
"The entire net was completely changed, almost beyond recognition," he told them. "ACDC looked like a virtual version of the real thing, but Oran was like an ocean."  
"An ocean?" Chaud asked sceptically. "In the net?"  
"It really was. The links to End, ACDC and SciLab areas were ports, with ships moored up at them. ProtoMan wanted to commandeer one until Chaud told him not to."  
"What did I do that for?"  
"Oh, I think you were worried about it because he couldn't swim, and if he'd gone overboard it was a long walk back to shore underwater – and even we Navis have to breath, so..."  
"I guess that makes sense."  
"I'm sure I've got an oxygen tank program around here someplace," ProtoMan said. "I could have used that."  
"Could, but you didn't have it in that reality. Anyway, we-" MegaMan broke off sharply, looking around with a serious but puzzled expression.  
Lan and Chaud exchanged a curious look, then ProtoMan finally broke the silence.  
"Something wrong? Not feeling well?"  
"No, it's not that, I just thought..."  
"Yes?"  
"Something's not right. I can't tell what, but I'm sure something's happened."  
"I had that feeling," Lan said. "Right after that error when you got back, and I'm sure you said that I looked like I had the same feeling at the same time in the other reality too."  
MegaMan's expression turned worried. "It couldn't be. Not unless..."  
"I wish you'd stop trailing off like that," Chaud snapped irritably. "At least give us enough to know what you're thinking."  
But MegaMan shook his head again, getting up and leaving. They followed him out until they stood outside SciLab.  
"Care to explain, Hub?" ProtoMan asked him. No one appeared to notice his use of MegaMan's original name.  
"This isn't... something's very wrong here, can't you see?"  
"It looks normal to me. Why don't you just spit it out?"  
"Reality's changed again. I can feel it."  
"None of us are any different."  
"You're probably affected by it then. I don't think I am because I've been through this before... just last time I was the one with the Orb, this time it's someone else."  
"So what's different?"  
"This isn't the same SciLab I remember going into with Lan. It looks the same inside, but outside... this is a completely different place. There should be a harbour just over there," he pointed to their left. "But there isn't."  
"Marine Harbour's that way," Chaud supplied. "And the SciLab building has been behind it for some time."  
"No, it hasn't," MegaMan insisted. "This is what I mean, I'm not affected, but you are. The SciLab I went into was just south west from ACDC."  
"That would put it just south east from the ruins of End area."  
"What? Ruins? When did _that_ happen?"  
Now Lan looked worried, "Uh, Hub? We were there at the time, remember? The Gargoyle Castle collapsed on the place when the local weather control system when haywire and caused the earthquake. We only just got out in time."  
"But that never happened... at least, not in the original reality. This isn't the original one anymore, I'm certain. Something or someone has changed it again."  
"Go online," someone growled. The voice came from a blue PET hanging on a cord around MegaMan's neck, containing a wolf-shaped Navi.  
"Wolf's right," another, more familiar voice said from Lan's pet. MegaMan glanced over, and saw that once more Angel inhabited the white PET for his brother. "We ought to go online and see if there's anything different there too." Angel then looked up at MegaMan. "What? You look like you just saw a ghost."  
MegaMan didn't answer immediately, looking from Angel to Wolf, then he held up a hand to look at and gave a nervous laugh.  
"I'm human," he said finally. "And I have a Navi of my own."  
"Didn't you before?"  
"No... I am... was a Navi. Don't you – no, of course you won't remember. It never happened in this reality, did it. No, of course not, only I'm going to remember."  
"Remember what?"  
"Tell me Angel, who am I?"  
"Hub Hikari, the older of the Hikari twins – the younger being Lan, of course, but not by long."  
"See, that's not how I remember it," he grinned. "I remember it that I had a fatal condition when I was young, and Dad saved me by turning me into Lan's Navi, MegaMan."  
"But Angel's always been my Navi," Lan protested.  
"In this reality, not the original one. In this reality, I'm exactly as Angel says I am, and as you remember."  
"Why do we remember it then, but not you?"  
"Didn't you listen?" ProtoMan burst out in exasperation. "He wasn't affected by it because he went through the same thing, remember?"  
Chaud shook his head, "If he's not affected by it, why is he now human instead of the Navi he thinks he was?"  
"ColourMan," Lan suggested. "Hub said that in the reality he was in control of, something tried to alter ColourMan, but he resisted it. He could still work with what tried to change him, so maybe something similar happened to Hub?"  
"Makes sense," Wolf agreed. "Mail," he announced just after, the PET beeping. "Unknown sender."  
MegaMan, now Hub, took the PET and read it, his face turning from his nervous grin, through a more serious expression, then into clear annoyance.  
"Bad news?" Angel asked him.  
"He better be thankful I'm not a Navi, because if I got my hands on him..."  
"Hub!"  
"What?"  
"Care to let us in on it?"  
"It's a mail from Bass. He's the one in my position this time – the one with the godlike view. It confirms what you were talking about a moment ago, and then he challenges me to set reality straight again. He isn't exactly nice about it either."  
"Bass doesn't like we humans," Lan reminded him. "And since you're one too..."  
"He's known I was human, or at least a Navi with it's roots as a human, for a long time. He hasn't liked me since I first met him, and he didn't like me last time I met him either."  
"When was that?"  
"You and I were poking around in one of Nebula's corners of the net after they disbanded," he shrugged. "He turned up there and challenged us."  
"Did we win?"  
"Of course we won. Have you ever known us to lose?"  
"I can think of a few times one of us did, and the other got us out of it again."  
"Don't remind me," Chaud sighed. "Every time I challenge you, you insist on me taking on both of you together. I can take on either of you alone, but not both together. If it's not Angel flying around, it's Wolf's sheer power and speed."  
Hub stared out toward what he could see of the ocean, a speculative look on his face.  
"I think I'm going to need to brush up on recent events, so I know how things happened in this reality. And I think I'm going to need a hand from you too, Wolf."  
"What I'm here for," his Navi replied. "Netbattling?"  
"How did you guess?"  
"You said you were a Navi. So you know my side of it, but not the Operator side of it, and you want a hand getting to grips with that and with me, since you don't remember having your own Navi anymore."  
"I think I've figured out why Wolf never talks much," Chaud said to Lan. "He saves them up for times like that."  
"I think you're right. I've got another idea too."  
"Oh?"  
"While he's busy learning everything over again, we can go check out the net for him."  
"He's the one that remembers it before it got changed. We wouldn't know what we're looking for."  
"I guess I didn't think of that."  
"That's all right," Chaud replied with a hint of a grin. "We still like you, even if you are a bit dense at times."  
"Hey!"

Later that evening, Hub leaned back on his bed, taking everything in. Here in this reality, he and Lan shared the room, and had bunk beds. Lan of course, had the lower bunk.  
Most of this reality had stayed fairly close to the original one, he'd discovered. One of the major changes was, obviously, that he had survived instead, and that he and Lan both had unique, irreplaceable Navis from their father that were considerably more adaptable and powerful than normal ones, though in different ways. Angel had been one of the first ever Navis with the ability to fly freely, while Wolf had been the pioneer Navi for non-human shaped ones.  
The incidents they'd handled were still handled by them, but rather than working together as Navi and Operator, it was as brothers. They were inseparable here, and always battled alongside each other.  
Some differences were not so simple, however. Hub found that he'd been excluded from several events in favour of his brother and Angel.  
First, when the WWW had first been a threat, only Lan had jacked into the Power Plant network because they didn't want to risk losing both due to running out of battery power. On the positive side, he found he had contributed by sending some power from Wolf's battery to Angel's, letting them keep on for a little longer.  
Next, when Gospel had reared it's head and attacked the Mother Computer, again he'd been left out. In this reality, their father had told him to go to the Square with Wolf to defend it while Lan and Angel dealt with the Mother Computer. They'd been told that neither of them were actually allowed to jack into it, so he'd only let one of them go in.  
When the WWW had come back again, he found he hadn't been excluded as such – but it had been him that Match had fooled into setting fire to SciLab – not Lan. He and Lan had apparently had a falling out after that incident, but had got past it eventually.  
The first time they encountered Nebula, he was excluded again – only Lan had gone against ShadeMan, and had gained any experience with DarkChips. He and Wolf had remained completely unstained by them, and had also not joined Lan in the battle against Duo.  
The team that battled against Nebula's net takeover also didn't include him, because his PET, like Dex's and Mayl's, had been taken from him – only Lan had kept his.  
Finally, during their time in Cyber City instead, CircusMan had failed to retrieve either of the Cybeasts, being interrupted by Official Navis too soon. He had jacked out to avoid the Cybeasts, which turned on the Officials, decimating them. Wolf and Angel had then taken their lead from CircusMan's attempt, Angel containing Falzar, and Wolf taking Gregar. Most of the rest of the incidents remained the same, though he and Lan picked up different cross-Navis. Each of them had taken on the Cybeast they had contained near the end, aided by Colonel and Iris, who had sacrificed themselves to deal the finishing blows to each, just as they had in the original reality.  
Overall though, he found that Lan held most of the limelight, and he was frequently left in his brother's shadow. Given that he was used to sharing it with Lan, it bothered him more than a little.  
Wolf had been accepting of his predicament, and clearly supported him in whatever he decided to do. He'd remarked that Hub was more independent and more confident than Lan was, but also took more risks – not that he minded that. Wolf was a Navi based almost entirely around the twin aspects of speed and power, without sacrificing anything. They often apparently handled taking larger chunks out of their opponents with hit and run tactics to keep them out of trouble as their defence was sometimes lacking. Lan and Angel supported their tactics, letting them distract the opponent while providing ballistics fire. It sounded like it had worked well, but with Hub's inexperience as an operator still shining through, they'd had trouble in the few battles he and Lan had done.  
It left him feeling like he was letting them down, not being able to operate at the same level they were clearly used to.  
"Don't let it get to you," Wolf growled to him quietly, picking up on this.  
"I can't help it. I'm used to battling from your side of it. I've never been human before."  
"You said you were on your adventure with the Orb."  
"It wasn't the same as this, it was just an image of me really. I wasn't really... well, alive. It's a kinda shock to suddenly find myself completely alive."  
"I imagine it was probably just as much of a surprise when you suddenly found yourself a Navi."  
"I don't remember actually. You'd think I would, but I can't remember that far back."  
"Not everyone has a perfect memory. Even we Navis."  
"I know."  
"Get some sleep, Hub. Things will seem better in the morning."  
"Wake me up?"  
"Of course. I always do, not that you need it."  
"No," he laughed. "Lan's the one who oversleeps."


	23. The First Dawn

Hub woke with a start, and then with a thud, a groan, and finally a thump.  
There was a sigh, then Wolf said, "You know, most people find it easier to use the ladder. Falling out generally isn't the suggested way."  
"Give me some credit," he replied, rubbing at some sore spots. "Until now, I'd never even seen a bunk bed, let alone sleep in one. And you can stop that too," he told Angel, who was trying not to laugh. Lan had somehow managed to sleep through everything.  
"You're up earlier than usual," Wolf noted.  
"What time is it?" he yawned.  
"Half five."  
"Mm. Guess I should put the extra time to good use."  
"Doing what?"  
"What else?"  
"I dunno. I could use a break."  
"You mean overnight wasn't enough for you?"  
Wolf chuckled, an odd sound coming from him.  
"If you two are going to go break heads, at least go somewhere else until Lan wakes up," Angel told them. "Not to mention I'd like to get a little more kip."  
"You? You don't need to sleep."  
"So? I like to sleep when there's nothing to do. It's relaxing."  
Hub dressed himself quietly. As he had done the previous day, he kept to blue. It was about the only reminder of who he had been before things had changed.  
"Just call if you need us," he told Angel as he left.  
"Naturally," he yawned, closing his eyes again.  
The PET was hung around his neck again on it's cord, and they left.  
"Got somewhere in mind yet?" Wolf asked.  
"Not really," Hub replied, ensuring he had his key and closing the front door. "I just thought I'd wander around, actually. See some places I'm not used to seeing from this side."  
"Get used to being in the real world, huh?"  
"Oh, I've been here before. By CopyBot originally, and when reality altered the first time I could appear here as well."  
"But never while human?"  
"I haven't been human since before I became MegaMan."  
"And you told me last night you don't remember that."  
"Not a bit. Say, it's not bad having someone to talk to around, is it?"  
"You've had Lan around, if you're right."  
"Well, yeah, but normally he's the one talking to me. I don't really get the chance to do the same."  
"I wonder..."  
"What?"  
"Are you going to want to return to what you had?"  
"Why do you ask?"  
"You can't say you're not enjoying this at least a little."  
"Well... no. Not really."  
"So why not leave things the way they are?"  
He didn't answer, taking a seat on the park bench to think. "I don't know," he said finally. "I faced the same choice last time things changed. There were things I liked about staying, and things I wanted to go back the way they were again."  
"And you chose to let things go back."  
He nodded, continuing, "It's the same this time. I miss netbattling as a Navi already, but some things here... I wish things could go back, and I could keep them."  
"But you can't do it."  
"No. It's an ethical problem I have."  
"Ethical?"  
"It means leaving Bass in a kind of god-like position, and given his disposition toward humans..."  
"Point taken."  
They sat in silence for a while.  
"Is it always this dark this early?"  
"Dawn isn't due for a while yet. Don't tell me you can't see in the dark?"  
"Of course I can... I just... never really liked being out in the dark."  
"What for?"  
Hub shifted uneasily. "Promise not to laugh or tell anyone?"  
"Of course."  
"I'm afraid of ghosts."  
"In the dark?"  
"More places to hide in the dark."  
"You know that's irrational."  
"'natchly... doesn't change it though."  
Wolf sighed, curling up on the PET's screen. "Don't worry about any ghosts, Hub. You've got me to chase them away."  
"Thanks, Wolf."  
"What I'm here for. Planning on sitting there until dawn?"  
"Where do you think the best place to see it from would be?"  
"Dawn? Marine Harbour, I should think. One side of it faces toward it."  
"I think that's where we'll go."

Marine Harbour in the early morning was at it's quietest. Only the earliest of risers were around here at this hour. Night-time cleaners leaving and a handful of workaholics that turned up extra early were about the only people around, except for one boy.  
Hub sat near one of the gardens, legs hanging over one edge, arms resting on a safety rail, and head leaning on them. Wolf was dozing again, leaving him watching the sunrise in the quiet morning light.  
The sound of water playing against the harbour walls seemed like only a quiet splashing, accompanied only by a few birds nearby.  
Someone else took a seat beside him. There was no mistaking who it was.  
"I didn't know you got up early too," he said.  
"It's a habit. I used to have to get Lan up, so got up early myself. Since when did you get up this early?"  
"Since always, really," Chaud replied. "I like mornings. They're quieter. You can get a lot done without the noise of the day."  
"I've never really had much to do before."  
"How are you feeling?"  
"Besides a little cold, I'm fine. It'll warm up in a bit though, so I'll be fine."  
Chaud chuckled, a rare thing from him. "You're still as practical as I remember you."  
"Just common sense," he shrugged.  
"What's it like?"  
Hub picked up on his meaning. "Different, yet not different. I'm still the same shape, I just don't have any of my usual abilities or anything. I keep finding myself being more careful not to hurt myself, because it's not just a little damage I can use a recovery chip on."  
"That's not how I remember you. You're always taking risks. If anything, you've ended up with more scrapes than Lan has, and usually not really cared about it. I remember once you went around with a broken arm telling everyone it was nothing."  
"Seriously? How did I break it?"  
"You fell out of a tree, I think."  
"What was I doing up a tree?"  
"Getting back Dex's tennis ball," Wolf murmured.  
"Now I remember," Chaud said. "You'd hit it a bit hard, and it had bounced off the wall of his house and into the tree. Then you insisted on getting it back yourself."  
Hub shook his head with a foolish grin, "I almost can't believe I did that. It does kinda sound a bit like me though."  
"If you don't mind a little advice, you might want to think about trying it."  
"Being reckless, you mean?"  
"Not reckless. Just take a few more risks. Lan let me know you were having trouble training yesterday. Maybe try it next time, and see if it helps."  
"I'll think about it. Thanks Chaud."  
"Just thought I'd try to help."  
"It feels weird being told to take risks though."  
"I know. I wasn't sure if I should have suggested it, but I figure since you're more responsible than Lan, I could trust you to make the choice yourself."  
"Thanks."  
They sat in silence again, watching the sunrise. It was the first sunrise seen by a life that had barely been alive again for a day.

Hub rejoined Lan in time for breakfast.  
"You could have woken me," his brother grumbled.  
"I know you, Lan. You wouldn't wake up early unless someone was offering breakfast. Angel knew I was gone anyway."  
"That's how I knew you'd gone."  
"You didn't miss anything really."  
"Breakfast," his mom's voice came calling to them both, and she and their plates coming not far behind. The smell set both their stomachs to rumbling almost immediately.  
"Boys," dad greeted them, joining them with a steaming mug in his hand. "Are you busy today?"  
"Nothing that can't wait," Angel answered for them. "Is something up?"  
"I hope not, but I'm on my day off, and you know what your mother's like about me working on my days off. I thought I'd ask you to help out for me."  
"What needs to be done?"  
"It's more like a patrol run really. There's been rumours of odd disturbances around the net of late, and I'd feel better about it if I knew someone was keeping an eye out for them."  
"Odd how?" Hub asked curiously.  
"That's the odd thing. No one seems to remember anything specific, just that something happened."  
"That sounds suspicious in itself."  
"I'll leave it in your hands," he told them, getting to his feet again. "I'm sure I can count on you boys."  
Lan and Hub finished their breakfasts quickly. While they ate, their Navis talked.  
"We should stick together," Angel decided. "Since Hub's having a little trouble, it makes sense to keep us nearby."  
"I've got confidence in him," Wolf disagreed. "Splitting up will cover more ground, and quicker."  
"Are you sure, Wolf? I think you should at least take someone else along in case."  
"We'll be fine," Hub answered for him. "There's no other Navi that can keep up with Wolf, right?"  
"You said it," Wolf agreed. Angel's expression was disapproving however.  
"Where should we start then?" he asked instead.  
"With the local nets, of course. One of us can take the Dentown areas, the other the Cyber City ones. International ones can wait until afterwards. I take preference on Cyber City area."  
"Fair enough. Angel can fly over most of the Dentown areas just as quickly as Wolf can run through them. Watch out in Sky area though," Lan warned.  
"And keep out of the Undernet," Angel added.  
"You don't need to remind me about that," Hub sighed. "I do know the danger spots of the net."  
"I just wanted to make sure you hadn't forgotten."  
Hub treated Angel to a frosty glare as he said, "I might not be as experienced as you remember me, but I'm not a complete idiot, Angel."  
"Excuse me for looking out for you," he replied, sounding offended.  
"I can look out for myself. I don't need you to coddle me. I'll let you know if anything comes up that we can't handle," he told them, getting up. "If there is such a thing."  
"Don't you think you were a little rude there?" Wolf asked him after he'd left for Cyber City.  
"I got slightly irritated," he admitted. "I still remember the net, I went around it as a Navi for long enough. I don't need them to tell me where's dangerous and where's safe."  
"I think you're being overconfident. Even considering what Chaud said earlier."  
"You were listening then?"  
"Of course. I don't need to sleep any more than Angel does, but I can look like it and still know what's going on."  
"I guess I should have known."  
"So, what are you planning on doing, exactly?"  
"We'll jack into Central area directly, check it out then go through Seaside, Green and Sky areas in turn."  
"And after that?"  
"There's still the entrance to the Undernet in Sky area."  
"Angel told us to keep out of there."  
"What Angel doesn't know, can't hurt him."  
"It can hurt us though, or at least me."  
"Afraid of a little adventure, are we?" Hub asked with a sly grin.


	24. Troublemaker, Troubleshooter

"I can't believe you even considered doing this."  
"Where else am I going to jack in from? My school ID won't work since we transferred back to ACDC, remember."  
"But there could be people living here now!"  
"If they are, they're not home. They'd have noticed me by now."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Believe me, I'm sure. Those clicks are louder on the other side."  
"How long are you going to be at this, Hub?"  
"Give me a few more moments, and I'll have it."  
"I can't believe this," Wolf repeated.  
The lock clicked twice, then went clunk.  
"We're in," Hub said, opening the door to the house they'd moved to in Cyber City.  
"I hope no one saw us."  
"'natchly," Hub replied with a toss of his hair, still grinning.  
"Where did you learn to pick locks?"  
"I guessed."  
"You _what?_"  
"It really wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be once I figured it out," he continued matter-of-factly. "It looks like I was right. No one's moved in yet."  
"Either Bass has had a change of heart, or someone really likes you."  
"Or I'm just good at this sort of thing," he laughed, heading to what had been his room. Their computer, like the rest of their belongings, had long since been moved back to their ACDC home, but some furniture remained for the next owners. The port the computer used to connect to the net was still clearly visible.  
"I can't jack in through that, Hub. You're going to need a computer."  
"Not so," he disagreed. "Remember that little device I picked up in the hardware store on the way here?"  
"Some kind of converter, wasn't it?"  
"Exactly. You jack into it, it handles everything, and we're online in no time."  
"You could have told me this earlier."  
"Nu-uh – Anything I say, Bass can hear. So if he can hear or see it-"  
"He can do something to stop us. I get it now."  
"Ready to go online?"  
"Please! I was made ready!"  
Hub laughed again, hooking the PET up and transmitting him. In moments, the view changed to Central Area, at the same point Lan's homepage used to link to. Of course, without Lan's computer here, the homepage didn't exist any longer.  
"Alright Wolf. Keep those sharp eyes of yours open."  
"'natchly," he replied, imitating Hub.  
Wolf loped easily through Central Area, brushing past surprised Navis. Like Angel, he was known to others at least, but as they were seldom seen without Angel his appearance still startled many.  
Nowhere in any of them did Wolf find anything out of the ordinary, so he moved straight onto the brightly coloured Seaside area.  
On a lower plaza in the first area, something caught his eye immediately. Three Navis appeared to have cornered another, who was backing into a corner, his eyes fearful.  
Wolf didn't bother with the link down, to the plaza, jumping off a path and landing silently nearby.  
"Hub?" he growled quietly. "What do you think?"  
"Can you hear them?"  
"Only just. They're bullying him." He cocked his head a moment, listening intently, then continued, "They're short of money, and know he's always got enough, so they're making threats if he doesn't hand over what they want."  
"That's a party just shouting to be crashed," Hub observed. "Care to do the crashing?"  
Wolf grinned as only a wolf can, sidling up behind the trio of bullies.  
"Just hand it over," one was saying. "Then we'll be gone, and you'll see the end of us."  
"Or we'll just take it from you the hard way," another added.  
Wolf began to growl behind them. All four Navis froze.  
"Don't be afraid," he snarled. "I don't hurt... much. You three need to learn to make your own money."  
"Why work for it, when we can just take what we want?" the third of the bullies asked.  
"Because if you don't get out of here right now, I'm going to rip you apart," Wolf answered. He pushed past them and placed himself between them and their victim. "I can practically smell the fear coming from you, so what'll it be? Run and live?" He grinned wider, showing all the sharp teeth, then held up one clawed paw, continuing, "Or will you stay and take your chances?"  
One of the Navis jacked out. One began to run, but the last sneered at him, "I'm not afraid of you."  
"Too bad." Wolf had been crouched on back paws, poised ready to strike. One front leg snapped up sharply, raking the Navi's chest with the claws, then punching under the jaw. A second strike coming back again slashed at the face as the paw came down again.  
Wolf then placed both front paws firmly on the ground and spun on them, kicking the Navi in the chest hard, then launching himself into the air after him. The Navi apparently panicked and jacked out.  
"He's getting away," the Navi he'd been protecting called out, pointing to the fleeing one.  
"Hub?"  
"What are you asking me for?" Hub answered. "After him!"  
Wolf sprung into a dash like a spring uncoiling, and took off after the fleeing Navi. The Navi realised, making a sharp turn and taking the link back up to the paths above.  
Wolf didn't bother with the same, instead crouching again and jumping back up onto them himself.  
By now, the amassed Navis were all watching. Some had apparently identified Wolf, and were looking around for Angel as well.  
Wolf ignored them, focusing on the Navi. Several times he jumped gaps between the paths until the Navi took a turn down a dead end path. He bore down on the Navi growling and snarling, taking him down with a pounce.  
"It's wrong to steal, you know," he growled.  
"Please! Don't hurt me! I just went along with the others!"  
"A follower, eh? You know the names of the other two?"  
"Of course. They're my friends."  
"You need better friends. If I were you... I'd be the one to go to the net police about this."  
"I can't! They'll delete me if I do."  
"How are they going to do that, if they net police have them and their Navis?"  
The Navi appeared to think about this, apparently not having realised this.  
"Think about it," Wolf told him. "I'll find it what you do one way or another."  
He got off the Navi, stepping back. It got to it's feet, looking fearfully at Wolf, then jacked out. Wolf returned to the Navi that had been threatened.  
"Are you alright?"  
"I'm fine, thanks. You ran them off before they did anything to me this time."  
"This time? It's happened before?"  
The Navi nodded, "I try not to give in, but every time I do, they attack and I either have to give up or get deleted."  
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"  
"They said they'd know if I did."  
"You should have told someone all the same. At least then something could be done."  
"I didn't want to make things any worse."  
"Well, it's over now. If they have any sense, they won't bother you now."  
"Thanks for your help. You're Wolf, aren't you?"  
"You know me?"  
"You're normally seen with Angel, Lan Hikari's Navi. Is he around?"  
"No. Just me. Well, me and my operator. Lan's brother."  
"Oh, I know... what was his name..."  
Hub felt a pang of annoyance that Lan, Angel and Wolf were all remembered, but he was once again left out.  
"Tell him," he muttered to Wolf. "Get it over with."  
"His name's Hub," Wolf told the Navi.  
"Ah, yeah. Now I remember. Well, tell him thanks too... I wish I'd seen Angel too though."  
"He's somewhere in the Dentown net, if you want to see him."  
"Really? Thanks!"  
"I think I see why it bothered you so much," Wolf said as the Navi hurried off. "They get more attention than we do even when they're not around..."  
"I know. Anything else around?"  
"If there was, it's gone now. The entire area is buzzing after what I just did."  
"Time to move on to Green town's net then."  
"If I can get out of here."  
"I wouldn't worry about that. They're all looking for Angel, remember?"  
"I'd rather not remember."  
"Now you know how I feel... let's go."  
Wolf nodded, breaking into a run again.

Green area had turned out to be free of anything unusual, leaving them Sky area. That too had turned out clean.  
Now Wolf was stalking through the Undernet, grumbling to himself.  
"Stop complaining," Hub told him.  
"We're not meant to be here."  
"Says who?"  
"Lan and Angel?"  
"Oh, never mind them. Overcautious, both of them. Take a left."  
"You've been here before, haven't you?"  
"'natchly. There's someone here who should be able to help. Again."  
Wolf nodded, continuing.  
"There's a scent of a Navi here," he told Hub shortly after. "And cyber-vegetables too."  
"ColourMan grows his own. There should be an area up ahead, it's where he lives."  
"I've heard of Navis going by themselves, but never setting themselves up a place to stay."  
"He's had a fair time to do so. I imagine he just found a way to survive here, and built a life around it."  
Wolf padded up to the area. Hub recognised it, and it's occupant.  
"That's far enough," ColourMan told Wolf warningly. "What do you want?"  
"Not me. My operator."  
"Who's that then?"  
"It's me, ColourMan," Hub said. "I'm stuck out here, and can't get to you this time."  
"MegaMan? Is that you?"  
"Yeah. Hub now, though."  
"Reality's changed again, you know."  
"I can hardly miss it."  
"What do you mean?"  
"He's human," Wolf explained. "I'm his Navi."  
"Really? How are you holding up then, Hub?"  
"I'm getting used to it. I miss being a Navi though."  
"Ah, to be expected. So what brings you to me?"  
"I'm guessing you got out of being affected again?"  
"Obviously, otherwise how would I have remembered your old name?"  
"Well... could I ask you to help me out again?"  
"What are you up to this time?"  
"Not me. Someone else has the Orb this time. I'm looking for anything odd on the net. Anything out of the ordinary."  
"I guess since ProtoMan left, I don't have anything better to do. The link to your homepage isn't active any longer though, so I'll have to leave the Undernet myself."  
"Hold on a moment, I'll generate a new one for you."  
"What about Lan?" Wolf asked.  
"What did I say about him earlier?"  
"Never mind him. You're doing a lot without really bothering to think about him, aren't you?"  
"I'll explain it to him later. I doubt he'd disconnect a link I make without asking me first. Here's the link to give to ColourMan."  
"Thanks, MegaMan. I mean Hub." He shook his head, "That's going to take some getting used to. I still think of you as a Navi."  
"I still do sometimes too," Hub admitted. "But I'm getting over it. Being human isn't so bad, I've discovered."  
"Growing to like it, are you?"  
"It's got it's good points. You can get in touch with me?"  
"Of course. I'll roll around the net and let you know what I pick up."  
"Thanks, ColourMan. We ought to get going though. We had to break into our old home in Cyber City to get online."  
"We?" Wolf objected. "You were the one who picked the lock!"  
"Getting in trouble again are we Hub?" ColourMan asked.  
"Everyone just thinks the worst of me," he replied theatrically. "Come on. I suppose we'd better get out before we get caught."  
He brought Wolf out, removing the converter and pocketing it, then looking out the window.  
"Uh oh."  
"Now what?"  
"Company."  
"I told you this was a bad idea."  
"Oh, relax. There's another way out."  
"Oh, really?"  
"Hush."  
Hub left his old room, heading into the room that had belonged to their parents. It had a small garden on top of it.  
He quickly picked the lock on the door to it, letting himself out. The lock on the front door clicked behind him.  
"Hub!"  
"I heard," he said quietly, locking the door again after him.  
"Now what?" Hub didn't answer, looking at a lower garden belonging to the house next door. "Oh, no," Wolf muttered.  
Hub grinned, jumped, landed and rolled on the ground without a single injury.  
"Why don't we get out of here? I'm suddenly feeling a bit homesick."


	25. Vanishing Fireblaze

Lan and Angel were waiting for them when they returned home, sat on the couch facing away from the door.  
Hub quietly came up behind, fighting a sudden urge to laugh again, then jumped over the couch to land beside Lan, surprising him.  
"Don't do that to me!" Lan told him after he'd recovered. "You scared me half to death."  
"That was kinda the idea," Hub grinned. "So did you find anything?"  
"Nothing worth mentioning... of course that might have been because we got ambushed by a bunch of Navis in End Area that seemed to know we were going to be there."  
"Really? I wonder how they knew," Hub replied with a straight face. Straight as it was, it couldn't hide the lack of innocence in his eyes.  
"Did you have to tell them?"  
"Me? I don't have a clue what you're talking about."  
"Wolf, make him stop that."  
"Stop what?" Wolf asked pleasantly. "Telling the truth?"  
"So how did they find out?"  
"Oh, I think I might have accidentally let slip that you were in the Den area net," Wolf shrugged. "Nothing all that important really..."  
"What did you tell them for?"  
"You handled them, didn't you? Besides, they did seem more interested in you than Wolf or me."  
Lan sighed, shaking his head. "What about you? What trouble did you get into?"  
"I didn't get into any trouble at all," Hub replied, ignoring a derisive snort from both Navis. "I even did a good deed for the day. Well, Wolf did."  
"We ran off a trio of Navis," Wolf explained. "They were trying to get money out of another Navi by threatening him."  
"We heard about that," Angel added. "There was a certain Navi who bothered us that said you'd saved him and then sent him on to us."  
"We didn't exactly send him on to you... just let him know where you were."  
"Well, it looks like we can tell Dad there's nothing out of the ordinary going on today."  
Hub's PET beeped.  
"Mail," Wolf announced. "It's from our friend from earlier."  
"Let's see it," Hub said, picking up the PET to look. His grin faded to a more serious expression as he read.  
"I think you spoke too quickly," Angel told Lan.  
"Bass had better be happy I can't get to him any longer," Hub muttered. "Very happy that I can't get to him."  
"What now?"  
"If I'm right – and I probably am – he's made some changes, and now the Weather system in Sky Town is under the control of an old enemy."  
"Which old enemy?"  
"MagicMan," Hub replied.  
Lan nodded, getting up. He paused by the door. "Well, aren't you coming?"  
"Oh, alright then. I'll keep you out of trouble."  
"Me?"Lan protested. "You're the one who keeps getting into trouble!"  
"Alright then – I'll get us into trouble, and you get us out of it again," he replied as they left.  
"Good timing," Chaud said. He'd apparently been about to call on them. "Sorry about this, but I'm afraid I've got to ask you to come with me, Hub."  
"Huh? What for?"  
"Just come with me, Hub. Don't be difficult."  
"Go on, Hub," Lan told him. "We'll wait for you."  
"No," he replied. "You go on ahead. I think I know what this is about."  
"Sure?"  
"'natchly. Come on then Chaud. Let's get this over with."

Lan fidgeted impatiently in the elevator that led to the top of Sky Town.  
"What do you think he's done?" he asked Angel.  
"I don't know, but you know Hub. He's always getting into trouble."  
"That's true. It can't be anything serious though."  
"Why do you say that?"  
"Chaud just asked him to come along, he didn't say anything about using official powers or anything."  
"Point. One of these days he's going to get himself in more serious trouble, I think."  
"Maybe."  
The elevator pinged, opening onto main Sky Town.  
Unlike the time ElementMan had taken over the weather system, there was no evidence it had been compromised. Experience told Lan to be cautious however, so he went warily to where he'd jacked in last time, finding no resistance, no one around, nothing at all. Even the inside of the weather system seemed normal.  
At the back, however, MagicMan awaited them.  
"Angel! It's been a long time... this time, you're mine."  
"What are you doing, MagicMan?"  
MagicMan didn't reply, hurling magic fire at him. It travelled faster than he remembered, was tinted with a purple colour, and homed in on him.  
Angel hastily attempt to reflect it, but it broke right through them.  
MagicMan laughed cruelly, hurling yet more magic fire at him, not just one fireball, but hundreds. They ignored or broke through every defence that Angel could raise. It made no difference whether he was flying or not, he couldn't reach MagicMan through the storm of fireballs that began to fill the area.  
"Lan! I can't keep this up. I've got no defence against this, and it's worse closer to him."  
"Shoot! Is there anything we can do?"  
"Nothing. Sorry Lan."  
"Get out of there, before you get deleted – we're going to have to go for help."

Chaud sat across a table from Hub, ProtoMan watching from a screen nearby.  
"You were seen earlier today in Cyber City," he said. "What were you doing there?"  
"I was looking for anything strange on the net, because Dad asked me and Lan to."  
"Yet Lan was not with you."  
"We split up to cover more areas quicker."  
"And where did you jack into the net from?"  
"The room I shared with Lan when we stayed there," he replied. There didn't seem to be any point hiding it, and being honest about it was likely to do him good.  
"Are you aware that you were seen entering the property?"  
"Oh. I was kinda hoping I hadn't gotten seen, but I guess I was wrong. I suppose that means I got seen leaving too, right?"  
"No, actually. We don't have that. How did you leave?"  
"I went out to the rooftop garden, jumped down to a lower garden behind the house and left that way."  
"Neat," Chaud noted. "So what kind of strange events did you find?"  
"We didn't, but we did interrupt a trio of Navis trying to extort money out of a fourth one. Wolf persuaded them to turn themselves in. Well, I hope he persuaded them. I don't know if they actually did or not."  
"Don't worry. We had three people hand themselves in for it not long ago, complaining about you. I'm going to have to contact your father to confirm your story, but either way this is going to be another mark on your record, Hub. Breaking and entering isn't something that can be overlooked easily."  
"Give me some credit – at least I admitted it."  
"True," Chaud smiled. "And you've got people who can back up your story. You can go now. I'll let you know if I need you again."  
"Heh. What'd I tell you, Wolf? We're not in any trouble at all from this."  
"Just wait until your father asks why he's being contacted about it. Imagine what he'll say."  
"We'll handle that when we come to it," he brushed it off. "Let's go catch up with Lan."  
As if on cue, the phone rang. "Lan for you," Wolf told him.  
"What's up, little brother?" he answered it.  
"MagicMan just decimated Angel. He's badly hurt, and we didn't even make a scratch on him."  
"Whoa. What did he do to him, put him through a meat grinder?"  
"No, he made a storm of fireballs that we couldn't cut through. They were so thick close to him that we couldn't get close."  
"Hmm..." Hub thought for a bit, then replied, "I'm on it. Where are you?"  
"At Dad's lab, getting Angel tended to."  
"Sky Town still accessible?"  
"There's no trouble getting to him, it's MagicMan himself you want to watch out for."  
"Don't worry about it. I'll handle it."  
"Will you be alright without Angel's aid?"  
"'natchly," Hub replied, then finished the call. "Let's go, Wolf."  
"Here we go again," Wolf muttered, rolling his eyes.

MagicMan awaited them.  
"Who're you?"  
"The name's Wolf. We haven't met."  
"What do you want?"  
"You almost deleted Angel. Know what my relation to him is?"  
"I have no idea."  
"My operator is his operator's big brother. And we don't like people who beat up our little brother."  
"So you've come to try and delete me."  
"Try? Oh no. We don't do half measures. Care to surrender?"  
"Give over!"  
Wolf grinned, growled and leapt, charging at him. MagicMan summoned the firestorm again, but Wolf was ready for this. He ran around, letting them follow him as if reeling them in, then dragging the vast storm behind him, he headed toward MagicMan again. Wolf leapt over MagicMan's head, ducking down behind him and kicking him into his own firestorm.  
As the firestorm struck, Wolf turned sharply, claws digging into the ground to spring him back toward MagicMan. He slammed hard into MagicMan's back, pushing him to the ground. MagicMan might have had magic behind him, but he didn't have the physical power to throw Wolf off him, letting Wolf savage him with claws and teeth. The fight was short, brutal and ugly after that.  
"Invigorating," Wolf commented.  
"Excuse me," another voice said. "I wish to take the remains of the Navi you have deleted."  
Wolf looked up to see a strange Navi. It was pure white, with grey marks on it. It looked human, but in place of ears it had twinned spikes sticking out, each with a red ring hovering around it. The shoulders too had spikes on. Above both ankles and wrists, there was a patch that seemed thicker, and on it's chest it bore a crest of an arrow on it, pointing to one side with three spikes off the back. The eyes of this unusual Navi were the same red as the rings.  
"Who're you?"  
"I am no one important," it told him, lightly pushing Wolf aside and then crouching where MagicMan had been and brushing it's fingers over the ground. It nodded, "I have what I required. I will leave now."  
And it did so, seeming to just fade out.  
"That's creepy," Hub said. "It's like he was some kind of ghost."  
"He wasn't a ghost," Wolf told him. "Definitely a Navi."  
"Yeah, but... just the way he faded out like that..."  
"I don't think you need to be afraid of him, Hub."  
"Sorry. I guess it's just the way I am."  
"How about worrying over whether Angel's going to recover or not?"  
"Oh yeah! We better go to Dad's lab and check up on him."  
"Hey! Don't forget to jack me out before you leave!"


	26. The Battle for Life

**A/N:** Whew. This chapter turned out to be just a tad longer than I'd planned, but definitely worth it. Enjoy it.  
Cookies for anyone who knows who the mysterious white Navi is - or for that matter, the yellow one that showed up just after MegaMan originally set reality back on it's proper course.  
Keep the discovery quiet if you figure it out though - let everyone else figure it out for themselves. If you can't tell, be patient and wait - the story will reveal all eventually.

* * *

Lan was waiting for him again. This time, he'd prudently decided to sit facing the door, so Hub couldn't sneak up on him again.  
"Did you get him?" he asked Hub almost as soon as he'd stepped into Dad's Lab.  
"'natchly," Hub replied. "It was easy. We didn't even need a battlechip."  
"How did you manage that?"  
"Simple. MagicMan's fireballs homed in on you, right?"  
"Yeah."  
"Wolf can outrun them. So he let them follow him until MagicMan couldn't create any more."  
"Then I just jumped over MagicMan, and let him take the hits," Wolf continued. "It was easy to delete him after that."  
"Why didn't we think of that?" Lan asked himself.  
"Even if you had, I wouldn't have been able to outrun or outfly them," Angel's voice came from their father's computer.  
"Hold still," Dad told Angel. "You've still got a lot of damage that needs repairing."  
"How is he?" Hub asked him.  
"Better, but there's still work to be done."  
"So he'll be alright?"  
"Of course. Unlike you."  
"Me?"  
"I had a phone call from Chaud while you were off deleting MagicMan."  
"Oh. That."  
"Yes, that. What did you think you were doing?"  
"What you asked me to, 'natch."  
"I didn't ask you to break into our old home there to do it, Hub!"  
"Well how else was I going to get into Central Area?"  
"As I recall, aren't there links to it from ACDC, Beach, Green and Sky areas?"  
"Well... yeah, but I wanted to check Central first."  
"So why not ask Chaud to get you in there, or into the school?"  
"I guess I didn't think of that."  
"Oh, Hub... what if you'd been caught? You know the laws are stricter there. If Chaud hadn't intervened..."  
"Sorry, Dad."  
"Just mind you don't get in any more trouble, right?"  
"Me, in trouble? Would I ever?"  
He earned himself a faint chuckle from that, proving at least that Dad had forgiven him, if not understood.  
"I've done what I can for Angel," Dad told them just after. "I wouldn't let him take any strong blows for a while, but otherwise he's back to his normal self." He handed Angel's PET back to Lan.  
Hub's phone rang, listing an unknown caller.  
"Who is it?" he answered.  
"Hub, it's me, ColourMan. I've got some bad news for you."  
"Who's terrorising where now?" he sighed.  
"The place is SciLab's homepage. You won't believe who."  
"Go on."  
"It's the LifeVirus."  
"What? But didn't it get deleted?"  
"Go tell that to the one on the homepage. I just came from there, even I can't stand up to this. You've got to do something about it, Hub. I saw at least four Navis get deleted by it."  
"I'll get right on it. Thanks for warning me, ColourMan."  
"No charge. Good luck."  
Dad and Lan looked at him curiously.  
"What?" he asked, hanging up.  
"Since when have you been friends with ColourMan?" Dad asked him. "He's a wanted criminal."  
"He's a changed Navi," Hub disagreed. "I asked him to keep a lookout for anything strange on the net when I met him in the Undernet earlier."  
"You went into the Undernet?" Angel flared. "After we told you not to?"  
"Oh, pipe down. I already told you I know the risks. Nothing happened to us. A lot of viruses got deleted, but Wolf's fine. Anyway, that's where ColourMan lives now. There's a link on the private part of our homepage that links to his home. He protects his end of it, so there's no risks there."  
"Do you trust him, Hub?" Dad pressed.  
"Yes," he replied, not hesitating. "I believe him when he says he's changed. I trust him, and I trust his information." Hub turned to Angel. "Feel up to working with me against the LifeVirus again?"  
"Not particularly," he said. "If you handle most of it for yourself, I'll support you where I can."  
"Works for me. Let's go handle that big, ugly monstrosity."  
"Monstrosity?"  
"Well, isn't it?"  
Dad looked from Lan to Hub, a resigned expression on his face, then sighed. "I'll set up a link to the homepage so you can jack in from here. I'm going to keep an eye on you two this time."  
"Don't you trust us?" Hub asked, his face the picture of false innocense.  
"After what you did earlier, can you blame him?" Angel asked, grinning.  
"Or maybe I just want to see my boys at their best," Dad said, tapping away. "The link's active. Do what everyone claims you two do best, boys. Make your father proud."  
"Don't we always."  
Angel and Wolf appeared side by side on the otherwise deserted homepage – deserted, that was, except for the massive form of the LifeVirus, it's green and white form, accented by red in key places, stretching high above them. It was facing away from them, it's massive hands appearing to hold down two small blue hemispheres, inside each two smaller versions of itself were forming, each one aligned to one of the four elements and coloured accordingly. The ground around it sparked in a circle, the only evidence that it's powerful aura was active and protecting it.  
"I forgot just how big this thing was," Angel murmured to Wolf, turning to him. Wolf wasn't there. "Wolf? Wolf, where – Oh, no."  
Wolf was headed toward the LifeVirus already, somehow running silently and stealthily.  
"Hub, I need you a moment," Wolf said quietly.  
"I'm listening."  
"Get me three Wind chips, and an Invisible chip. Make sure Angel's got an Invisble chip ready to go too."  
"In that order?"  
"In that order," Wolf confirmed. "Tell Angel not to activate his until I do mine."  
Hub quickly sorted through his chips, finding them out and finding a few missing chips.  
"Lan, do you mind if I borrow a few of your chips?"  
"Go ahead," his brother replied. "They're yours too."  
"Thanks."  
"Chips in the way, Wolf."  
Wolf nodded, veering off to the LifeVirus's left hand, keeping just out of it's sight. He deployed the first Wind chip, keeping it inactive.  
The second he placed right behind the LifeVirus, as close as it's aura would allow him to get, and the third was placed behind it's right hand.  
He activated the Invisible chip, vanishing from view. Angel followed suit.  
The three Windboxes, seemingly by themselves, were activated. The aura flickered into view, a huge hemisphere towering over even the LifeVirus itself. Slowly the aura began to move and with it the two blue ones holding the four lesser ones began to move too.  
"Hub," Wolf's voice game again.  
"I'm here."  
"Get Angel to place two more Windboxes, in between the other two, and hurry."  
Hub didn't reply, fishing them out for Lan to sent on to Angel. In moments, another two windboxes appeared.  
The aura started to move quicker with the first, then was blown off entirely with the other. The two blue ones, still held down by the immense hands of the LifeVirus, were shaking in his hands, but no longer budged.  
Wolf reappeared, once more running toward the now unprotected rear of the immense beast. He gave a powerful leap once close, slamming hard into the thinner part adjoining it's body and legs. The LifeVirus stumbled forward, it's balance lost despite having six legs, it hands suddenly drawn up and being used to regain balance. Wolf took advantage of it's momentary lapse to strike again, but it recovered too quickly. It turned rapidly, inadvertantly kicking the four lesser ones around the homepage. In one of the hands it swiped at Wolf, catching him in it and attempting to crush him.  
Angel was ready though, now reappearing himself and aiming a cannon for the thinner wrist part of the hand that held him. He fired, striking with pinpoint precision causing it to flinch back and drop Wolf.  
It's balefully gleaming yellow eyes turned on them. It glared at the snarling form of Wolf, then at Angel, hovering high in the air by now. The LifeVirus gave a defiant screech, waving one hand toward Wolf, then crouched low, charging up... something.  
With the wave of it's hand, the four smaller viruses charged at Wolf, each one he knew was readying an elemental attack.  
Angel was ready for them though, taking aim with another cannon and blasting them all before they even reached him.  
Wolf meanwhile resumed his attack. He knew the only weak spots were the wrists, the waist, and the red mark on the lower part, where the legs joined to the central unit below the waist. It's natural armour would prevent any damage done to it.  
The hands were the main threat right now, with their huge reach it could swipe at him before he even got close – not to mention they were the key to it's summoning the smaller viruses.  
Wolf charged, watching the hands carefully. He had to get close to the one Angel had damaged, but there was no opportunity.  
"Hub!"  
"What now?"  
"I need a distraction. Something to get the focus off me."  
"Lan?"  
"Yeah?"  
"You heard?"  
"Of course. Angel, I'm sending you some Vulcan cannons. We're not aiming for damage here."  
"Gotcha," Angel replied. "Just watch I don't start becoming the focus of it's attacks. Remember what Dad said."  
"We haven't forgotten," Lan and Hub both replied.  
The aura began to re-form around the LifeVirus. Wolf took his chances, and headed inside the ring already beginning to spark on the ground around it, marking the edge of the aura.  
It took a swipe at him, but Angel shot at the hand that swiped down. It whipped back again, leaving Wolf inside the aura after it had formed.  
The red mark glowed, vulnerable.  
Without a word, Hub sent a combo of cannons to activate the program advance for them. Wolf took it, and took advantage of his position inside the protective aura and blasted the mark, sending the LifeVirus stumbling back under it's power, but dragging the aura over and past Wolf, leaving him outside it.  
It slammed both hands down on the ground, the two hemispheres forming again, and with them a swarm of the lesser viruses inside each.  
Lan began scrambling through their available chips, searching for ones to make a specific combo, which one Hub wasn't sure. He apparently found the ones he was after though, sending them on to Angel, who understood, summoning was was unmistakably a LifeSword advance, and swooping low, sword in aura began to stutter under his assault, then failed entirely. The LifeVirus's eyes focused on Angel now.  
Whatever it had been charging up was released now, letting loose a swarm of meteors headed for them.  
Wolf dodged easily, taking advantage of it's focus on Angel to lunge at one wrist, tearing into the vulnerable red parts, making it screech loudly.  
Angel wove and weaved through the shower of rocks with Lan warning him of anything he couldn't see.  
The hands were lifted, releasing the swarm of viruses. Wolf jumped up onto the shoulder, between the twin spikes on it, to avoid them. Some of the swarm were swatted by the remains of the rock shower. As soon as it passed, he began picking them off.  
"New plan!" Wolf snarled. "Angel's going to have to aim for the weak spots. I can't deal enough damage to this thing."  
"Get it's attention back Wolf!" Angel called back, switching targets without missing a beat.  
Wolf turned on it's shoulder, scrambling up beside it's head and giving it a swipe.  
"Hey, you!" he shouted at it. "Let's see you shake me off from here!" He jumped again, landing on it's head and using the spikes on it to hold himself on. He definitely got it's attention now.  
It gave another loud scream, and began running around, jerking violently to shake Wolf off.  
"Is that the best you can do?" he taunted it. It stopped suddently, throwing him to the ground in front. It swiped at him, but he rolled aside, and snapped at some of the lesser viruses that were nearby. The swarm turned on him now.  
Wolf had to think quickly, now running from the LifeVirus, which was in hot pursuit, deleting the lesser viruses as he ran, and avoiding the new rock storm it had summoned against him. Out of the corner of one eye, he spotted Angel with a pair of cannons active, waiting for his chance.  
He stopped running, digging front claws in and swinging round on them to kick at other nearby viruses, then stood facing the giant form bearing down on him.  
Angel took aim behind it, one cannon on each of it's wrists, and fired. The already damaged left wrist seemed to tear off with a great cracking sound, landing heavily nearby and deleting a huge portion of viruses – and leaving a great dip in the ground of the homepage after it dissolved, defeated.  
The LifeVirus screeched again, turning sharply to face Angel now.  
Wolf leapt on it's back again, scrambling to find footholds. He managed to get beside it's head again.  
"Hey! I'm over here. Did you forget me?"  
It turned to glare at him. Wolf leapt off and ran, making it charge after him again, while charging up for another attack  
Angel took aim again, this time for the undamaged wrist. Not bothering to wait for it to stop, he shot at it twice with each cannon, ripping it off like the other. It reoriented on Angel again, and let loose with the laser attack they knew all too well.  
Angel took a dive, attempting to go under it, but the LifeVirus reacted too quickly, clipping him on one wing, sending him spiralling to the ground. Hub heard Lan breath in sharply, then sigh with relief when Angel shot up again from the ground as if he'd been in a steeper dive. His wing showed signs of being singed, but he was otherwise unharmed.  
Wolf paused, nodding once when he saw Angel safe, and took advantage of the distraction to land more blows on the once-more vulnerable red spot, each one sending the LifeVirus reeling backwards.  
A continued barrage of cannon blows to it's waist worsened it's condition.  
Finally, Wolf and Angel stood side by side, their respective busters charged and ready. One aimed for the red spot, the other the waist. They shared a look, then fired.  
The waist split, sending the top half toppling backwards. The legs on the bottom half seemed to lose their grip, sliding down until the part they attached to sunk to the ground, dissolving as it was deleted.  
The top half crashed to the ground, leaving a third crater on the ground. It gave one last imploring screech, then it too dissolved, and with it the remains of the swarm was deleted.  
"Good fight," Wolf commented. "Angel?"  
"I'm fine. It's just a light burn."  
Wolf growled then, dropping down as if ready for another fight.  
"What?" Angel asked. "What is it?"  
"Company," he growled.  
"It is only me again," the voice of the unusual white Navi said. It walked past them to the crater where the LifeVirus had fallen and right into it.  
"Who is that," Angel murmured to Wolf.  
"I don't know. He showed up when I deleted MagicMan too."  
The Navi examined the ground in the crater, seeming to collect something.  
"That's impossible," Dad said from behind the boys. They'd completely forgotten he was there. "He was deleted... unless..."  
"Who is he?" Hub asked him.  
"Don't worry about it. Leave this one to me."  
The Navi walked out of the crater again, and stopped before them.  
"I thank you for what you have done. I have long sought the remains of the LifeVirus."  
"You brought it back just so you could collect it?" Angel asked him, accusingly.  
"No," he said simply. "I merely collect the remains of significant deleted programs and viruses. I was unable to be present when the LifeVirus was first deleted, and so took advantage of this opportunity to obtain the remains this time. Do excuse me," he said with a polite nod. "I must be leaving."  
Just as he had before, he faded out. Hub gave an involuntary shudder, "That still gives me the creeps."


	27. The Blue in the Desert

**A/N: **As some readers may or may not have noted, I've started stealing ideas from the Anime. This is not because I've been watching it, though I plan to at some point. I've actually been doing some reading up on quite a few things from various sources since the beginning, and found some things from it very interesting.  
In case you're wondering, the first occurance of something from the Anime making it into here was Hub's fear of ghosts. It was in there, but not in the games.  
Enough from me. Read on.

* * *

"Just promise me you won't get into any more trouble, Hub," Dad told him.  
"Where's the fun in that?" he smirked, then seeing Dad's look continued, "Alright, I promise."  
"And as for you Lan, try not to get into battles you can't handle again?"  
"Are you kidding me?" Lan answered, taking a leaf from his brother. "That's what I do best!"  
"Without Hub, that is," he amended. "With him, you two can take on anything... as I just saw. You're formidable by yourselves, but together you're unstoppable. Be careful – both of you."  
"Don't worry about us, Dad," Hub assured him. "I'll look out for him, and he'll try and keep me out of trouble."  
He nodded, then returned to work. They left him to it, heading back outside.  
"You know what's going to happen, don't you?" Lan asked Hub.  
"No, what?"  
"You're going to get in trouble for all those craters we left on the homepage."  
"Nah, Dad'll explain it. Besides, we're heros again. Heros get to get away with all kinds of things."  
Lan and Hub's PET's both beeped at the same time. They both reached for them.  
"I don't believe him," Hub muttered irritably in response to his mail.  
"I don't believe this," Lan said disbelievingly to message he'd received.  
They looked at each other, then simoultaneously said, "You first."  
"You're older," Lan said. "You first."  
"It's nothing important," he replied dismissivly. "Just Bass taunting me over this. He claims he's already got something else set in motion."  
"Uh oh," Lan said. "I think I know what. It was in my mail."  
"Huh?"  
"D'ya remember Pauly?"  
"Wasn't he the kid you beat in the search for their watergod? The one who infected their watergod statue with viruses because you beat him?"  
"That's the one. Well, the mail's from him. It's happened again, but it's not his fault this time, he claims it's weird Navi he doesn't recognise in the watergod computer. No one can beat it, so since I'm the only one who's beaten him..."  
"He wants you to delete it, right?"  
"Bull's-eye."  
"I'm coming with you."  
"They won't let you over the river to the watergod, Hub."  
"So what? You heard Dad – stick together and we can do anything. What if you get in trouble again? You'd have to wait for me to fly there with you."  
"I get the idea, but where are we going to get tickets from?"  
"Chaud? I bet he'd understand if we showed him the two mails. He could probably get us there quicker."  
Lan stopped, thinking about this.  
"Why do I never think of these things?" he asked, turning around and heading back into SciLab to find Chaud.  
Chaud was holed up in the command room he'd used when directing their efforts during the Nebula Net Takeover. There were other scientists and people around the room. A glance at a few monitors explained why – they were attempting to repair the homepage.  
"Can we bother you?" Lan asked him.  
"Can it be solved quickly?" Chaud replied.  
"It can if you can get us to NetFrica to delete yet another threat from Bass."  
"And your proof is?"  
They showed them the mails from Bass and Pauly.  
"We reckon they're related," Hub told him. "The way Bass talks about it, it fits."  
Chaud examined them, then sent a mail. In moments, he had a reply, and turned back to them.  
"Charlie's waiting on the roof. He'll get you there. You remember him?"  
"Of course. GyroMan's operator."  
"Go and meet him. And next time you take on something big like that, try not to rearrange the local landscape again."  
"Blame the LifeVirus," Hub told him. "It caused them."  
Chaud didn't reply.

"I forgot how warm it is over here," Lan murmured.  
"You forgot? Last time I remember being here, it was as your Navi, so I didn't feel the heat. I just got to experience my first flight, and now the heat here for the first time, so how do you think I feel?"  
"Stop complaining," Wolf told him.  
"You can talk. We're getting left out again."  
"I'll have a word with Paulie," Lan assured him. "I'll try and get you allowed over if I can, if not you'll have to sit it out unless I start having trouble."  
"I still don't like it," Hub grumbled, but hung back all the same and waited, watching.  
The river had dried up again, he noted. The last time this had happened was during the Red Sun and Blue Moon tournaments, when Lan had gone against Paulie. That time, Paulie had been responsible. It was anybody's guess who had done it this time.  
Lan held a short discussion with Paulie, with Paulie shaking his head insistantly. It didn't look like he was going to let Hub over the river to the watergod.  
Lan crossed the stepping stones to the far side, sending Angel into the watergod statue, while Paulie joined him.  
"I can't let you over," he told Hub. "He's been the champion before, so I can let him, but not you."  
"What if he needs my help? We normally work together."  
"Can't do it."  
Hub thought for a moment, then had an idea, forming a plan.  
"Angel... might not be able to handle it," he told him, keeping his voice quiet.  
"What? What do you mean?"  
"He took on a Navi earlier that almost deleted him. Wolf and I had to handle it for him, he was so badly damaged. We had to take him to our Dad to get him repaired, then we had to take on a really powerful virus right after that, so he might not have recovered properly. He might not even be at full strength. If whatever caused the watergod to fail is too powerful, he won't be able to stand up to it."  
"Why didn't Lan tell me this?"  
"Probably because he doesn't want anyone to worry. Angel keeps insisting he's fine, and he only really does that if he isn't."  
Paulie hesitated, then continued, "I still can't do it. I'm sorry Hub, but-"  
"Hub!" Lan called. "I need you!"  
Hub nodded to his brother, then looked back to Paulie.  
"Go on," Paulie said finally.  
"You won't regret doing this, Paulie," Hub told him, hurrying over to Lan.  
"Well?"  
"It's DesertMan. He's caused a sandstorm in the comp, and Angel can't see a thing. We can't counter-attack if we can't see him, and he's already landed several attacks on Angel."  
"Wolf can track him by scent, or at least that's what we're hoping," Angel told him. "If you can follow my tracks to where I am now, you should be able to pick his up on the way."  
"And if I can smell him, I don't need to see him," Wolf finished.  
Hub nodded, understanding. "Let's go, Wolf. We've got work to do."  
The watergod computer had originally been just a maze, for it's own protection. Now it was both a maze, and a desert with the worst sandstorm ever seen inside it.  
Wolf could smell Angel in the air, however, and was able to follow his path through the links to different areas. He ignored the few viruses along the way, trying to find the scent of DesertMan.  
Something impacted him on the side, sending him rolling through the sands and losing him the trail.  
Snapping viciously at the air around him, Wolf got to his feet again, peering around and sniffing to try and find a scent.  
Something hit him again, this time on the other side, pinning him to the sandy floor, a great sandy hand.  
It was still made from sand, however, and was broken through easily. Wolf recognised the hand, though, and now had the scent he'd been looking for.  
Battlechips were useless without something to aim for. This was going to have to be fought the old fashioned way.  
Wolf slowed enough to let the roar of the sand mask the sound of his passage, then focused, listening intently as he followed the trail.  
A shape loomed in front of him. Was it DesertMan? He drew closer, then rolled aside quickly, realizing it was one of DesertMan's hands, searching for him.  
Another shape loomed. This time he was certain, this was DesertMan. It was confirmed when he made a swipe at it, and was rewarded with a sandy roar. He quickly moved away, watching as the vague shape of each hand swiped, attempting to find him.  
"Wolf," Lan's voice came. "I've got an idea."  
"Keep it down," he snarled. "I don't want him to be able to tell where I am."  
"Sorry. If you can tag him with something that Angel can track, he thinks we can lend a hand."  
"Got any ideas on what to use?"  
"Uh..."  
"I've got it," Hub broke in. "If Lan links his connection to Angel through mine to you, the two of you will know where each other is, then once you spot DesertMan, Angel can use you as a target."  
"That's risky."  
"You betcha."  
"Get him ready then," Wolf told them, "And keep it quiet!"  
Wolf had to move quickly to avoid getting hit, as their discussion had attracted DesertMan's attention. He worked to lose it again, without also losing DesertMan, stalking his prey.  
"Whenever you're ready," Hub murmured.  
Wolf didn't bother to reply, closing in on the back of DesertMan. He dodged the hands swiping blindly around searching for him, then nodded, hoping Hub could see.  
Apparently he had, as moments later there was a great cracking sound, then a massive geyser of water behind him, spraying forth from a great hole in the ground. It doused the sand, making it too heavy to be blown about by the storm and clearing the vision.  
Between them, they finished the revieved DesertMan in moments. As he deleted, the remaining sand settled, then vanished. Only a few pools of water and the hole remained.  
"Wait for it," Wolf growled. Angel looked puzzled. "Stop right there," he continued. The white Navi had reappeared.  
"You are aware of what I wish to do," he told Wolf. "I could pass regardless of your presence should I choose to."  
"You can have the remains when you tell me what you want them for."  
"I have already told you I am merely a collector of such things. I catalog and archive them."  
"Why?"  
"The remains will not last long. I must collect them before they pass over."  
Grudgingly, Wolf stepped aside, watching him carefully. The Navi easily leapt over the hole to examine where DesertMan had been, then leapt back over again.  
"Thank you," he said simply.  
"Answer the question."  
"Many programs are unique. Once lost, they are gone permanently. I preserve the remains so they are not lost."  
"Why?" Wolf repeated.  
"That is not your concern, Wolf. Do excuse me. I must be leaving."  
Wolf pounced, pushing the Navi to the floor before it faded out.  
"You're not going anywhere until I get some answers."  
"I dislike violence, but you will find me to be a difficult opponent if you push me too far. I have told you all you need to know about me."  
"Unacceptable. You'll have to do better than that."  
The Navi's expression changed for the first time, from it's calm smile to irritation.  
"Then you leave me no choice. Witness my power," he told Wolf, closing his eyes.  
The air nearby shimmered, turning into shades of blue, yellow, and small patches of red and pink, forming a human shape.  
"Hey, wait a moment," Hub said, seeing this. "That looks like..."  
"What?" Lan pressed him.  
"Me..." he continued, disbelievingly. "When I was a Navi..."  
Sure enough, the shimmering solidified into the form of MegaMan. It was identical, except that it's eyes were not the green they were meant to be, they glowed instead with the same red as the white Navi's.  
It leveled it's buster at Wolf, charging it.  
"Get off me and permit me to leave," it said in the same voice as the strange white Navi. It had definitely come from the MegaMan figure, and not the Navi underneath Wolf.  
Wolf snarled his defiance in response.  
The MegaMan figure unleashed it's charged shot, scoring a direct hit and hurling Wolf off. The white Navi got up, and stood beside it, examining it. He laid a hand on it, and it flickered out of existance again.  
"Do not push me again, Wolf. I would not like to have to collect your remains. Now I must be leaving."  
He faded out.  
"Damn him!" Wolf snapped.  
"Are you alright?" Angel asked him, dropping down nearby.  
"Nothing a recovery chip won't solve," he snarled. "Did I hear you right, Hub? That was you?"  
"Yeah... that was what I looked like before reality changed again... well, except for the eyes."  
"You're powerful, do you know that? If that was anything like what your power was like, you were a powerful Navi."  
"Yeah..." Hub replied, his voice taking on a longing tone. "I know. Here's a recovery chip."  
Wolf used it, then realised something, his expression taking on a less serious look. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't stop to think. Bit of a touchy subject."  
"Just drop it, Wolf, please. I don't want to talk about it."


	28. A Destructive Trailblazer

ColourMan rolled, fairly literally, around the net. Few people knew he could use the ball almost like a wheel instead. Most knew him better for bouncing around instead.  
He was in Cyber City's Central area, an unfamiliar place for him. He usually kept to the more familiar Dentown areas.  
There was a roar, a chillingly familiar roar. The whole net knew what it meant. It had been heard before.  
Not long after he'd narrowly escaped permanent deletion by leaving for the net, he learned of Lan's actions, and of the NetMafia Gospel. He learned what had happened, and what they were up to.  
There'd been a roar heard throughout all of cyberspace when Gospel had roared before battling MegaMan.  
The roar of the cybeasts was similar, but was not universally heard – it had been confined to the Cyber City areas.  
Most Navis either spooked and jacked out, or ran for their lives. ColourMan kept his cool, heading toward where the sound had come from, listening intently for another one.  
It came, this time louder and causing the entire net to shake violently. When it subsided, he followed the sound again. It lead him to a link.  
He hesitated, then went through, ready to leave again at a moments notice, and what he saw made him do so as soon as possible.  
This was _definitely_ one for the Hikari brothers.

"Hello?" Hub answered his phone.  
"Get yourselves to Cyber City – now!"  
"Huh? ColourMan? What's up?"  
"Gospel is what's up! You need to move, MegaMan, he's gotten loose from the Cyber City Academy and is headed toward the Cybeast statues. I'm running from him right now, and I have no idea where I am, or where I'm going!"  
"Calm down, ColourMan! When you get to Central Area 3, head up the slope on the left, it leads to Sky area, and you can get to the Undernet from there."  
"I don't think that's going to help, it's ripping up everything we go past!"  
"Stop that! The residents won't just let it run riot, and they're probably more powerful than most Navis outside, so they'll at least manage to do something to it. Lan and I are on our way back from NetFrica right now; we won't be able to get online until we get back."  
"You better get your pilot to hurry then, otherwise there isn't going to be-" the signal cut off.  
"Uh oh," Lan said. "That can't be good."  
"Charlie!" Hub called over the sound of the chopper. "Did you hear the call I just got?"  
"Sorry kid, it's a little loud. Bad news?" he called back  
"Lets just say there won't be a net left to go onto if we don't hurry!"  
"If you can give me a specific place, I'll make a beeline for it."  
"Cyber City – as close as you can to the school."  
"That's a bit further than Marine Harbour and SciLab."  
"You aren't going to be able to jack in at the school, Hub," Lan warned. "They won't let you in."  
"Never mind that, I'll find a way."  
"Drop me off at SciLab then, Charlie," Lan called to him. "I'll talk to Chaud and do what I can from there, we'll send Angel in from there to catch up with you. Maybe this time you won't have to break into anywhere."  
"You'd better be quick then Lan, because if you haven't sorted it by the time I get there, I'll get in any way I can."

Hub nodded once to Charlie, then headed for the school. He didn't bother to stop at the gates that required a student ID, vaulting straight over them. Lan hadn't called, so he was breaking the law again, but that could wait.  
The security bots were after him quickly, but they were bulky and clumsy, and easily avoided. He left them at the gates to the staff lounge, heading for the room he'd picked up his first cross-Navi from when he'd transferred here.  
It was empty now, but the computer was still active, providing him with the link to the net he needed.  
"Wolf?"  
"You need to ask?"  
"Just letting you know," Hub told him, hooking up the PET.  
"Looks like ColourMan wasn't exaggerating," Wolf commented. "Everything's pretty badly torn up here."  
"After him, Wolf," Hub replied tensely. "Follow that trail of destruction."  
The trail was clear. There was a lot of damage done. What the LifeVirus had done in their short battle was nothing in comparison to this.  
There wasn't a Navi in sight. Wolf couldn't blame them.  
The trail lead the same way he'd told ColourMan to go. How Gospel had managed to get up the thin path into Sky area was anyone's guess.  
Sky area seemed to have got off marginally better, with pockets of damage scattered around. It looked like it had jumped around this area mostly.  
The gate that lead into the UnderNet itself was completely destroyed, remains scattered everywhere.  
"This is not good," Wolf said, running into the Undernet.  
"That's the understatement of the year. How's the Undernet?"  
"Bad, just like everwhere else. I can smell at least a dozen unique Navis here."  
"The locals. They''ll attack it until they get too badly damaged."  
Wolf nodded, continuing. Angel joined them as they entered another area.  
"ColourMan's safe," he reported. "Chaud's already smoothing over your breaking into here, and organizing a mass repair effort. I'd keep clear of him, by the way, he doesn't like you much for all this damage."  
"It's hardly my fault," Hub protested.  
"Try telling him that," ProtoMan told him, joining them. "But not right now. We're here to help."  
"We?"  
"I talked Chaud into taking my advice – you know, from the other reality that Hub was in. We're giving it a try."  
There was a roar from the area ahead, forcing them all to keep low as the quaking threatened to shake them all off the edges of the paths.  
Gospel waited for them atop a large slope ahead, though waited was a relative term. There were already other Navis on the offensive, most not breaking through it's tough armour of bugfrags. Some managed it however. Hub noted a lot of them using DarkChips to achieve it. Well, it was their choice.  
Angel and ProtoMan had already joined the fray. Some of the Undernet Navis backed away when they saw the duo bearing down on them, but once realized as an ally – if even temporarily – they stood beside what were normally their worst enemies.  
Gospel has been swinging around, attacking with tail and breath, but the moment Wolf drew close it rounded on him, bounding down the slope for him.  
Wolf snarled, turning and running. Gospel was quick, but no match for him when it came to speed and manoeuvrability at speed. Gospel pursued him, and the amassed Navis pursued it. It totally ignored them, except to trample any that got too close.  
Wolf ran on through the Undernet, Hub directing him. Hub knew the Undernet well by now. He'd been here enough times. He made one mistake though, and got Wolf stuck at a dead end. He couldn't go back – Gospel was there.  
He recognised this place. This was where he and Angel had been when some strange Navis that worshipped the Cybeasts had tried to bring them out.  
Gospel began to close the distance between them.  
"Any bright ideas, Hub?" he asked.  
"Think you can get on top of him?"  
"What? Are you insane?"  
"No, I've got a plan. That spiked hood on the back of his head protects his neck – if you can get behind it, I can send you battlechips to attack it. You have to tell me what colour you see there, because that's what element it's aligned to at that time, then I can send you a sword chip aligned with the element strong against it. Just drive it in as hard as you can, and don't stop until it changes element."  
"I know Chaud suggested taking risks, but don't you think that's overdoing it?"  
"You've got a few seconds to come up with a better plan, Wolf."  
Wolf muttered something unkind, then made ready for the attack.  
Gospel drew close, taking a great leap, attempting to land on him. Wolf had already moved, narrowly missing getting caught by it's tail, then ran up it's back.  
"Elec!" he told Hub, who scrambled for a Wood-Sword, transmitting it.  
The great beast gave an immense roar when he drove it into it's neck, and writhed underneath him as he jerked it back and forth, cutting in deeper.  
The glow from behind it's hood changed to blue.  
Hub quickly found the next chip. The crowd of Navis drew back as the beast writhed and thrashed around under Wolf's attacks. ProtoMan began warning them to get further clear.  
It began thrashing stronger now, forcing Wolf to take a firmer hold on it's back, unrelenting in his attack.  
Finally, the great beast succumbed, sinking to the ground, then with a massive explosion that hurled Wolf off, away and into ProtoMan, it deleted.  
"I hate Bass," he muttered when he landed.  
"I'm not overly fond of him either," ProtoMan remarked. "But at least I don't go around landing on people."  
"Shut up," he snapped, already heading back to where Gospel had been. The white Navi was there already.  
Weakened from the blast, Wolf still charged at him, snarling viciously. He looked up sharply, quickly jumping aside and concentrating. The MegaMan image formed again, placing itself between Wolf and the white Navi. On the image's left stood a second image of MegaMan, this time resembling him after using ProtoMan's soul unison. On the right stood a third image, using the GutsMan unison. All three were posed ready to strike.  
"I have warned you before. I will not tolerate continued interference."  
"And I've told you, you'll have to do better than that to stop me!"  
The first MegaMan image fired a charged shot at him, as before, but Wolf was ready for it this time. He moved aside, then attempted to pounce on it. He was blocked by the GutsSoul MegaMan, who pushed him back. Wolf jumped at this image instead, latching on and tearing into it until the ProtoSoul MegaMan made a swipe from behind. Now Wolf turned on him, repeating the tactics, until the image flickered and dissolved, defeated.  
He dodged another charged shot from the main MegaMan image, and a barrage of buster attacks from it after, then resumed his attack on the GutsSoul image defeating it too.  
Now he turned on the main image. He waited until after it had fired several more shots at him, then pounced, landing heavily and raking it's front with claws.  
Wolf heard Hub give a startled yelp of pain, then moments later, "Wolf, stop! Whatever you're doing to it is affecting me too!"  
Wolf's hesitation allowed the image to throw him off. He made no move to continue his attack.  
The white Navi, apparently noting this, removed the MegaMan image and faded out.  
"Hub! What happened to you?"  
"When you attacked it, I got the injury. I've got a nice set of scratches right over my front from your attack."  
"How is that even possible?"  
"I don't know, and I don't think we'd like the answer. Tell Angel what's happened and then get out... I want to get these tended to quickly. You went fairly deep."  
"Sorry. I didn't know."  
"I'm not blaming you. Quickly, Wolf – I'm bleeding here."

Hub was lying in a bed in the seaside hospital, his dad with him.  
"Honestly Hub, how do you manage to get into trouble like this all the time?"  
"Sorry Dad. It was kinda unexpected."  
"What happened to you?"  
"Um... well, it a bit... complicated."  
"The doctor told me you need time to recover, so there's plenty of time to tell me."  
Hub outlined the events of the first reality change, then moved on to the second.  
"Then when Wolf attacked the image of me without a soul unison, I somehow got hurt," Hub finished.  
"That's impossible... or at least unlikely. Impossible doesn't seem to apply to you after hearing all that."  
"It's what happened, Dad! Wolf scratched the image, and I got these!"  
"Relax. I believe you, son. But you and Wolf need to leave that white Navi alone, understand?"  
"It's not me doing it... Wolf keeps doing it himself..."  
"Just make sure he doesn't any more, especially now you've found out this happens."  
"I'll try to."  
"What about you? How do you feel?"  
"I feel fine... well, better, at least."  
"That's good. Get some rest, Hub. You'll feel better afterwards."  
"Thanks, Dad."


	29. Erased and Revealed

It had been a week since Gospel's reappearance. Hub had been discharged from the hospital with only a few marks left from Wolf's attack, and was back to his normal self.  
Now, he'd decided to take a break from running around deleting Navis and massive revived viruses, and headed to Castillo – somewhere he hadn't been since he and Lan had entered the tournament there, and even then that was as MegaMan.  
It was definitely different seeing it the way Lan had at the time, he'd decided. Everything seemed somehow bigger.  
He'd gone around everything they had before, though unlike last time, the bots didn't go wild. Hub had almost expected them to, as everything else had been almost exactly how he'd remembered it.  
Now he'd seen everything, and was sat at one of the cafés with an ice cream. Wolf, as usual when it was quiet, had returned to dozing.  
These were the kind of times he'd grown to like – quiet, nothing bad going on, and plenty of time for him to enjoy the nicer points of being real. It was enough to make him seriously consider not letting reality revert again.  
His quiet relaxation was disturbed by a strange man taking the seat opposite him. He looked human, but the dark coloured clothing and the harsh, contempt-filled expression were easily recognisable.  
"What do you want?" Hub asked Bass.  
"Do I need a reason to pay a call on a friend?"  
"Since when were we friends?"  
"Can you honestly consider me your enemy?"  
"Yes," he answered without hesitation. "You caused those Navis to return. You brought back the LifeVirus, and Gospel. You're an enemy."  
"I am not directly responsible for any of that. I merely influenced a certain individual to cause them."  
"Don't try to weasel out of it. You caused it, directly or not."  
Bass sighed. "You and I are the only ones who know of the Orb. Even without it, you could become useful to me if you were willing."  
"Forget it. The only deal I'd make with you is one that nets me the Orb."  
"I can't do that Hub. You know me well enough to know that." Hub nodded. "So you won't change your mind."  
"Not a chance."  
"You leave me little choice then... enjoy the rest of your life, Hub. If you live to see much more of it. If you decide to change your mind just say so."  
Bass got up and left again. Hub didn't bother to go after him.  
"Enlightening," Wolf remarked.  
"Hardly. Just a threat."  
"I noticed. Maybe we should investigate."  
"Where do you suggest starting? Bass could have arranged for nearly anything."  
"Well for a start, send me online. I can't exactly help if I'm stuck in here."  
"Alright... but I've got a bad feeling about this, Wolf."  
"I'll be careful. You can jack into the cart we got the ice creams from."  
"No, not that one – the one by the castle. They look the same, but you can only connect to the castle one."  
"So I made a mistake. Happens to everyone." He glanced up at Hub as he stood. "Don't look so sour. You've had a good day, why let him spoil everything like that?"  
"I don't like him very much right now, Wolf. He practically admitted he's responsible for causing all that trouble, then threatened me."  
"Well, focus on the better points of the day instead. You're much better company when you're not being a lemon."  
"A lemon?" he objected "I'm hardly a lemon! What about you, couch potato?"  
"Couch potato! If you sent me online more often, I wouldn't be left to laze around here like this."  
"Oh, alright," he grinned back. "I suppose you win that one."  
"Of course. I always win."  
"Bet?"  
"Not with you. You've got uncanny luck with your bets."  
"'natchly. I'm a lucky sort of person."  
Wolf chuckled to himself as Hub sent him online. As the scents of the cyberworld washed over him, he knew instantly there was something out of place, something that didn't belong.  
He didn't mention it to Hub, but remained alert, just in case.  
"Mail. It's from Lan."  
"Looks quiet," Hub commented, taking a look at the mail. "This place is usually as crowded as the actual park..."  
"What does Lan want?"  
"He didn't say, just asked us to meet at our homepage. Our link should still be around here someplace."  
"Yeah, I remember. Far side of the homepage, beside the boards. Looks like it's the only place there are any Navis or programs too."  
"Strange. Thinking what I am?"  
"'natchly. I'll run on over and see what's going on."  
As he broke into a run, he felt the uncomfortable feeling there was someone behind him, someone watching, so paused and turned. There was nothing there.  
Hub noticed. "Wolf?"  
"I just thought... it's nothing. Don't worry about it," he replied, continuing. The feeling had gone, but shortly returned again. This time he didn't react, and took a slightly longer route around the homepage.  
The scent that didn't belong was growing stronger now. It was almost unnoticeable, as if someone was trying to mask the scent but had gone too far and created the smell of nothing.  
Wolf waited still, running on until he judged it was right behind him, then turned sharply and snapped.  
His jaws clamped onto a stick. Not a stick... the handle of a large, evil looking scythe.  
The Navi holding it jerked it out from his teeth. It had been floating nearby, and had only narrowly missed having one of it's own legs caught by Wolf.  
It moved back, swinging the scythe at him, but Wolf dodged quickly, using his superior speed to his advantage.  
"Wha-" Hub started, seeing the Navi appear, then his eyes narrowed. "So _that's_ what Bass meant! Wolf, be careful – that's EraseMan, he specialises in deleting Navis."  
"You don't say!" he snapped back, narrowly missing another swipe. "A little tactical help would be more useful!"  
"Just don't let him hit you. If you can get past that scythe-"  
"Easier said than done!"  
"Got it. Hold out for a little longer Wolf, I gotta find the chips to pull this one off."  
He didn't reply, concentrating on keeping from getting hit. EraseMan had considerable speed himself, and was far from inept with the scythe.  
Apparently EraseMan wasn't a one-trick kind of Navi, and didn't take kindly to being detected then missing his opponent so many times, as he created two phantoms of himself.  
Wolf could tell which ones were the phantoms, and thought them safe to ignore. After one of them swiped and hit him, he stopped being so sure of that. Fortunately, a single shot from his little-used buster caused each to vanish.  
"Gottem," Hub's voice came. "Reckon you can get a clear shot at him without him blocking it?"  
"Since when do we shoot at stuff, Hub?"  
"Since you can't get close enough to hurt him. I'm sending a Magnum so aiming won't be so much of a problem, and it's got a White Capsule chip attached to-"  
"Paralyse him," Wolf finished. "Nice plan. Send the data."  
He took out another pair of phantoms, then drew back and loaded the chip data.  
EraseMan paused looking curious, then took the full blast of the Magnum cannons, with a sound to match the blast.  
Wolf quickly dismissed it, and moved in to finish him off, but he moved clear again as soon as the paralysis effect wore off with a shout of, "Wait!"  
"Hub?"  
"Stay wary Wolf. He might be trying to fool us."  
Wolf nodded, turning back again. "Make it quick," he growled at it.  
"Don't take it personally. It's just business. Deleting Navis is what I do, I just had a contract taken out on you."  
"Your point?"  
"I don't delete Navis if I judge them to be too powerful or useful – like Angel or ProtoMan. I think you're definitely one of those kind of Navis. I'm terminating the contract instead of you." He paused, apparently listening, then nodded and said, "I also have to tell you the same is true for your Operator."  
"Me?" Hub's surprise was clear. "Bass hired you to take out me as well?"  
"My operator, actually, but yes. I shouldn't tell you, but... be careful. He had us meet him inside the system for the Vampire bot here at Castillo. When I left, he created something strange in there, and I overheard him giving it orders as I left. Whatever it is, he's sent it after you."  
"What did it look like?"  
"It looked like someone had animated some red slime and attached bits of armour to it... excuse me though – I've got other business around the net."  
"Looks like he wasn't trying to trick us," Wolf murmured.  
Hub didn't reply.  
"Hub? Hub, are you there?"  
"Yeah," he replied distantly, then, "Get to Angel – quickly."  
"Is something up?"  
"Just get there as soon as you can, Wolf," he answered.  
He quickly broke into a run again, headed for the link and not wasting any time.  
Angel wasn't around on the homepage, which meant he was in the private part of it – a part especially set aside for themselves, and anyone that they invited in.  
Angel wasn't alone when he arrived. The white Navi was there too.  
"What kept you?" Angel asked laconically.  
"Bass took out a contract with an old friend of ours," Hub told him. "Remember EraseMan?"  
"Of course, but – you're not serious!"  
"That's right – and it was both of us. He's called it off now though. Your mail sounded urgent."  
"It is," Angel nodded, turning to the white Navi. "Do you want to tell them?"  
He nodded, "It appears the time has come for you to know more about me."  
"Finally," Wolf muttered.  
"My name is Cache. I collect the remains of unique and important programs and Navis around the net at the time of their deletion, so that if they are ever required again they may be safely revived again. One of the collected remains has been stolen from me, and it is quite dangerous."  
"Which piece?" Hub asked sharply.  
"One of the off-shoots of Alpha – one of the AlphaBugs."  
"Oh, no."  
"Is there a problem?"  
"I know exactly where it is, and who stole it. Wolf, I'm jacking you out – we're closer to it than they are."  
"How do you know?" Angel asked curiously.  
"No time! Cache, can you locate Wolf?"  
"Provided he is in a part of cyberworld, I can appear at his location," he answered.  
"A simple yes would have done. The next point we jack in at is the system your lost data is in, but we'll have to re-delete it."  
"I understand," Cache answered as Wolf returned to the PET. As soon as he was back, Hub, looking extremely worried, hurried off and headed right for the Vampire Manor.  
"Aren't the AlphaBugs hard to delete?" Wolf asked as they entered.  
"Yes, but I'm hoping it'll be weaker because it's only just been brought back, and that we can take it by surprise because Bass won't have ordered it after us yet. Hurry, Wolf!" he added, finding the bot and jacking him into it quickly.  
Wolf pushed the Navi that managed the raft ride aside and took control himself, sending them along the path at clearly unsafe speeds. The Navi had jumped off as it left, and was shouting after him. Wolf ignored him.  
The raft crashed to a stop at the far end of the path, at the small area Hub knew all to well. He'd first used a DarkChip here as MegaMan. It was one event he'd never forgotten - or forgiven himself for.  
Where ShadeMan had stood during that event, now stood a different figure. The ground beneath it was a glowing green ring around a red blob, extending upwards to a larger, gelatinous looking blob. On top of the blob was a kind of armoured shoulder piece with an attached helmet, a red eye in it. Hovering nearby were two large metal hands.  
"It's already started," Hub murmured.  
"What has?"  
"It's started absorbing data," he answered. "That's why it looks like a smaller version of Alpha, instead of an AlphaBug. We have to get rid of it, before it becomes a new Alpha."  
"No problem," Wolf grinned. "I just have to cut through the membrane and get rid of the bit inside, right?"  
"Yeah. I'll find something to help if I can."  
"What for? I've got Gregar sticking around, remember? A good rapid-fire at it should do the trick."  
"Won't work."  
"Why not?"  
"You don't have Gregar... I do."  
"The reality thing again?"  
"Yeah. Sorry, Wolf."  
"Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out."  
The AlphaBug didn't react as Wolf attacked, or when it tore through the membrane. It even remained still as he attacked the core, and deleted it.  
"Strange..." Hub remarked.  
"It is not," Cache's voice came, closely followed by Cache himself. "The AlphaBug had not reached the levels of instinct that Alpha attained. As the data for it's attack routines was damaged, it had nothing to call on."  
"So it was just an empty shell," Wolf asked.  
"Hardly empty, but it was incomplete. I thank you for allowing me to collect it's data again."  
"'I thank you for allowing me to collect it's data again'," a mocking voice echoed Cache. "Oh so grateful to the Navi that tried to delete you before. I'll never let you take my remains... to think they'd be stored by someone like you..." the voice paused then addressed Wolf. "As for you, I'd make you an offer, but your Operator already turned down the boss's deal."  
Wolf turned, looking around as if ready for a fight. "Who's there?" he asked. "Show yourself!"


	30. Trouble Ahead

**A/N: **Those among the readers who have watched the Anime will spot me shamelessly stealing another idea from it in this chapter. Since this story is based (mostly) on the world from the games, which has a fair few differences to the world in the Anime, I've had to do a little work to... well, make it work.  
For those who don't watch the Anime, don't worry. It's explained for you so you don't have to go watch it or hunt for somewhere to read up about it.  
Read on.

* * *

"Who's there? Show yourself!"  
"The Navi known as ClockMan," Cache announced. "You are not of this time."  
"I'm of whatever time I choose to be in," the voice of ClockMan told them snidely.  
"You will show yourself, or I will force you."  
"You?" he replied in a snide voice. "You, force me?"  
A shimmering blue circle appeared nearby, followed by a grey ring, and clock hands. Then, as if leaping through it, a Navi appeared through it. His wrists, ankles, knees and elbows all had clocks on, and there were another three on his head. It was clear where his name came from.  
"So at last you grace us with your presence," Cache nodded. He turned to the still shimmering clock, nodded to it, and somehow caused it to disappear.  
ClockMan turned to where it had been with chagrin, then concentrated. Nothing happened. He tried again, but still nothing.  
"What have you done?" he shouted at Cache.  
"You have not been the only program with the ability to affect time, and I was present at the deletion of one of them. I cannot block all of your abilities, but I cannot permit you to leave this time. You were revived by another to cause trouble, and thus I must ensure you are deleted once more."  
"Want some help with that, Cache?" Wolf grinned broadly.  
Somewhat hesitantly, Cache also grinned in response. He concentrated himself, forming the image of MegaMan once more, this time accompanied by an image of QuickMan on one side, and LaserMan on the other. Between the three images and Wolf, ClockMan was surrounded.  
"You may have stopped my travel through time, but you haven't stopped my plans, and I can still travel through space!" ClockMan seethed. He concentrated once more, and beneath him appeared a new clock, this one in red instead of blue. He began to sink into it.  
The three images moved toward him, as did Wolf, but as they did so they slowed down. ClockMan grinned evilly, then sank into the portal quicker. When he'd completely vanished, the clock-portal vanished. The four returned to normal speed again.  
QuickMan landed first, closely followed by Wolf, then MegaMan and finally LaserMan on top.  
Cache dissolved the images of QuickMan and LaserMan. Wolf rolled clear as MegaMan fell, then helped him back to his feet.  
"Cache, I'm curious," Hub said. "Where did you get the data for that Navi?"  
"It was found in my collection recently. It appears to have considerable power, which I am still exploring to find the full extent of it, but like the other remains it is incomplete. For an incomplete specimen, it is strangely intact."  
"Interesting... I can tell you more about it, but not now. Can you track ClockMan?"  
"Not with my capabilities. If it were possible to work with someone in the SciLab, then I may be able to."  
"I think if we talk to Dad, we can probably talk him into helping."  
"He might not listen, Hub," Wolf warned. "He didn't seem too pleased to see Cache when we ah... tried to delete him."  
"You did not understand," Cache said. "Think nothing of it. If you can persuade Doctor Hikari to work with me, then I believe that with time, I can locate him."  
"Keep an eye on us then," Wolf replied. "We'll talk to him."  
Cache nodded, vanishing again. Hub jacked him out.  
"Send a mail to Lan. Let him know what's happened, we'll meet him at SciLab."  
"Then what, Hub? What happens while we wait?"  
"I don't know, Wolf. I really don't know."

"You can't be serious," Doctor Hikari protested. "You want me to work with that?"  
"That has a name Dad, and he can help us."  
"Hub, you don't know what he did."  
"I don't need to know – he can help us find ClockMan."  
"I believe I can also assist with your quarrel with Bass," Cache added from the copybot he'd been allowed to use. Doctor Hikari had steadfastly refused to allow him into any of the SciLab systems.  
"And what do you get from it?" he demanded of Cache.  
"I gain peace of mind knowing that ClockMan is no longer causing trouble throughout time, and can retrieve another piece of his data for storage, and possibly a part of Bass as well."  
"I'm sorry boys, but what you're asking... I can't take the risks."  
"I thought that was part of what being a scientist was about," Hub said, crossing his arms. "If you don't take a risk, how can you test a new system?"  
"That's entirely different."  
"Oh, of course. So we'll just let ClockMan run riot, and let him keep slipping away every time because you're not willing to take a chance."  
"You stop that right now, Hub."  
"Or what?" he asked defiantly. "You'll ground me, and give ClockMan even bigger rein, and cause even more trouble?"  
"Lan can handle it."  
"Lan has tried to handle every incident that happened recently. If it hadn't been for me and Wolf, they'd never have managed any of them. You leave it to them, and Angel will just get deleted."  
"That's enough, Hub!"  
"He's right, Dad," Lan told him, exiting the lift. "I hate to say it, but he's definitely right. I've supported him at each, but honestly? I think his reckless approach to things is the only thing which got us through it."  
"Reckless?" Hub asked his brother.  
"More than you probably admit. You broke into our old home, went into an unauthorized part of Sky town, went into NetFrica's watergod statue technically without permission, broke into Cyber City Academy, jacked into the Vampire bot at Castillo without permission, and now you want Dad to work with Cache, who he thinks is dangerous for some reason."  
"Yeah, I guess I do take a lot of risks when you put it that way."  
Their father looked from Lan to Hub with resignation, then sighed.  
"Alright. I'll make you boys a deal. You help me test a new system I've been working on and take the risks that go with it, and then I'll humour you and work with Cache."  
"What's the project?"  
"It's a means for two things. Navis in the real world without the aid of a copybot, and a perfect link between Navi and Operator. It needs two things. One is called a Dimensional Area, created by a special generator. It's essentially a pocket of Cyberspace in the real world. The other is this," he held up a chip. It looked like a battlechip, but was lighter in colour and seemed to glow. "We call it a Synchro Chip. You slot it into your PET before you enter a Dimensional Area."  
"What does it do then?"  
"Simple. You and your Navi cross-fuse. The operator shares some of the physical attributes of their Navi, giving them protection against the dangers of cyberworld, and both share the same consciousness."  
"Like when we used the Pulse Transmission system that Wily had when we went after him the second time?" Lan asked. "Except it works in the real world instead of in cyberworld."  
"Exactly right. But there are dangers and risks. Any damage – and I mean any damage – that you take while fused will affect both of you, and no recovery chip will work while you're fused. I don't need to tell you what would happen if you got deleted." They both shook their heads. It was clear to anyone. "The only other thing to worry about is the field itself... if it's not formed correctly, just being inside one could harm you. Since there's only two generators right now, and they're both under careful control directly from here, you won't have to worry about that. But if you're willing to take those risks and be the first operators and Navis to test it, then I'll work with Cache."  
"Done," Hub said almost immediately.  
"What?" Lan cried out. "You can't be serious, Hub! You could get deleted along with Wolf!"  
"Yep, I know. I'm still doing it. Wolf's with me on this," he continued, glancing down at him. "Aren't you?"  
"Definitely," he replied.  
"I can't believe you two," Lan shook his head.  
"Guess we'll test it alone then."  
"Wait a moment," Angel interrupted. "In a Dimensional Area... what would we expect to find?" he asked.  
"The same thing you would in the real world, in theory," Doctor Hikari replied. "Unfortunately, the theory can't be fully proved. It's not safe for us to run the server that manages the generator either here or within the field, so we have to do it through the net. That means that there's a chance that viruses, or potentially even a Navi could stumble across the way in and be there."  
"But there shouldn't be anything like that, right?"  
"Theoretically," he repeated. "Even if something does stray through, virus or Navi it'll likely be disoriented and confused. If they don't find their own way back, they're most likely nothing to worry about."  
Angel nodded, considering this. Then to Lan, "I think we should do it."  
"What?" he burst out again. "Have you lost your mind as well?"  
"Oh, pipe down. While we're fused, we'll be able to fly just like I normally do. That'll keep us out of danger."  
Now Lan paused and considered it.  
"We leave just by exiting the Dimensional Area, I'm guessing?" he asked. Doctor Hikari nodded. "Alright," he said reluctantly. "Just... let's not get into any trouble, alright?"  
"Heh, too late for that," Hub grinned at him. "You're forgetting – Bass has probably heard all of this, and I wouldn't put it past him to try something."  
"Oh, great," he muttered. "Something else to worry about."  
"Don't worry," Wolf told him. "You'll have us to keep you out of trouble."  
"I'm not the one that needs to be kept out of trouble," he retorted.  
"Boys," they were told warningly. "The Dimensional Area you'll be testing is up in End Area. It's an abandoned part of the city. We obtained permission to use it specifically for testing this. Head west to the coastline when you get off at the Metroline station. You'll know the area when you see it – its visible as a shimmering blue barrier, and you won't be able to pass without a Synchro chip." He handed one to each of them. "Be careful, boys."  
Lan looked distrustfully at Hub, but Hub just gave him a cocky smirk, grinned at their father and left.  
"Why me?" Lan muttered.

End Area, for the most part, was still in ruins. After the collapse of the Gargoyle Castle, people had flocked away from it. This had left it's net relatively intact, but the cityscape abandoned. Nature could already be spotted moving back in again.  
The Dimensional Area was easily spotted. One part of the city was on an island, accessible only by one bridge. The entire area spanned this island, and a portion of the waters around it – the bridge included.  
Against Lan's objections, Hub had examined an abandoned car, judged it safe to drive, and even got it going before Angel overrode him and told them he'd drive them. Lan stopped objecting after that.  
Now they were as far as the car could take them, beside the looming barrier that was the edge of the Dimensional Area. From here, they could see through it. Everything looked exactly as it would have normally.  
Lan brought Angel back from the car's control system, and stepped out after Hub, looking up at it.  
"I hope Dad's right about this," he muttered.  
"One way to find out," Hub replied, slotting the Synchro chip into his PET. "Here goes."  
As he approached the edge, the chip glowed stronger until, as he pushed through the barrier, it and the PET became one bright light that surrounded Hub. When it cleared, it appeared as if Wolf had replaced him, but with differences. Unlike Wolf, fused together they could stand like a human. The front legs and paws were more human-like too, and the face was completely human except for a covering of the same fur that Wolf normally had. Oddly, the colouration of the fur had changed from it's normal dark brown, to a vibrant blue.  
Lan approached the edge himself, not slotting in his Synchro chip yet.  
"Are you... alright?"  
"We're fine," they replied. "It's a bit weird for us, but it's perfectly safe."  
"Weird how?"  
"Because I'm both Wolf and Hub. It's like we're literally one person together."  
"That's probably because it is," Angel said. "Come on, Lan. We ought to join them."  
Before anything else, he put a hand on the edge of the Dimensional Area. It pushed back, refusing him entry.  
Still somewhat reluctantly, he then slotted in his own Synchro chip and passed through as if the barrier was never there. As he did so, he retained most of his own appearance, gaining Angel's wings.  
"I was hoping for something a little more impressive than this," he commented. "Especially after seeing what you get."  
"Angel's not as complex as me."  
"What are we going to call each other?"  
"How about just Lan and Hub? The same brothers we've always been."  
"Angel and Wolf are here too though."  
"Yeah, I think we should stick to our operator's names though. Save confusion."  
"I'm confused already."  
Hub laughed, then dropped to all fours like Wolf normally did and bounded off ahead.  
"Catch me if you can," he called back.


	31. Inner City Brawl

**A/N: **Slightly later than I'd expected, but here's the next installment in the story.  
Late because Dragon Quest is annoyingly addictive.  
Enjoy.

* * *

Hub rounded a corner sharply, pounced and landed on top of the rapidly escaping Ratty virus, deleting it.  
"You're getting good at that," Lan remarked, swooping down nearby.  
"I know. What's flying like?"  
"Unbelievable. You'd have to try it yourself."  
"I don't think we're allowed to fuse with someone else's Navi."  
"Guess it's all mine then." He glanced up, and spotted something. "Hey, Hub..."  
"Yeah?"  
"What's that over there?"  
Now Hub looked over. There was a group of shadowy shapes at an intersection.  
"I don't know," he replied. "I'll run on over and have a look."  
"Watch your back."  
Hub smirked once at Lan, then bounded off again.  
They'd found a variety of viruses had found their way in, though most weren't much trouble.  
They'd also found that the deeper they went into the area, the more the rest appeared to fog up, reducing their vision considerably. It was because of this that he didn't recognise the viruses until he was only a short distance away.  
The part of him that was Wolf wanted to fight them, but the part that was Hub wanted to bolt. Hub did not like ghosts – and Shadow viruses were very ghost-like.  
They were also completely immune to anything except swords and other similarly sharp attacks, meaning he couldn't call on Lan to help._  
We can do this, Hub,_ Wolf seemed to tell him. _Trust me. Be strong, and you can overcome your fear of them. Maybe you'll even get over it through this._  
He hesitated, but understood and jumped into the middle of the group, claws flying around with Wolf's speed and ripping through the Shadow viruses easily. They turned on him almost instantly, but even though they outnumbered him, they fell easily.  
Lan dropped down nearby after he'd finished the last of them.  
"Overdoing it a bit, aren't you?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.  
"What do you mean?" he answered, breathing hard. Wolf might find it easy, but Hub wasn't used to this still.  
"You weren't that vicious on any of the other viruses here. It was like you had a grudge against them or something."  
"It's nothing."  
"If you say so. I've found something you ought to see. Two blocks over."  
Lan flew ahead, leading the way, and pointed. Hub rounded the corner and saw.  
He saw two massive fists hovering in the air, and the massive form of Duo rising up between them.  
"Uh-oh."  
"I don't know what you're worried about Hub. It hasn't reacted to me like it did last time."  
"Yeah, 'cause there's no sign of the dark chips you've used. You never used them in the original reality," he explained, seeing Lan's momentary puzzlement. "Even though in this one you have, because that's before the change, it won't show."  
"So it's perfectly safe then."  
"No," Hub replied. "It's not. Think about it, Lan."  
After a few moments thought, realization dawned on him. "You were MegaMan in the other reality, which means you did... so if you go close-"  
"Evil energy detected!" Duo's booming voice interrupted.  
"That happens," Lan finished.  
Duo looked down, peered at Lan, then turned to Hub.  
"Hi," Hub grinned at him. "You're looking for me?"  
"Hub! What are you doing?"  
"What d'ya think?"  
"Confirmed," Duo said, before Lan could say anything. "You will be eradicated."  
"Give it your best shot, you big bully! You won't make a mark on me."  
Duo attempted to slam one fist onto him, but Hub moved too quickly. Lan prudently moved clear, landing on the top of a nearby building. From his vantage up here, Hub was nowhere to be seen. Duo evidently couldn't see him either, peering down streets and smashing away at buildings as if to find him inside one.  
"Hub, what _are_ you doing..." he said to no one in particular.  
"He is attempting to distract Duo," Cache's voice answered from behind him.  
"I thought you were helping dad."  
"I was. We have located ClockMan. When our attempts to call you failed, showing you were still within this area, I came looking for you."  
"Can you do something about him?" he gestured toward Duo.  
"I am unfamiliar with his battle tactics. It would be difficult to know which Navi images to form against it."  
"Use the MegaMan one. It's good at everything, right?"  
"How is it that you know more about it than I?" Cache asked, calmly observing Hub appear on a rooftop behind Duo, then leap onto it's back and tearing into the armour.  
"Hub's the one to ask about that really. It is sort of him, after all."  
"Him? I do not understand."  
"You'll have to get him to confirm it, but he thinks this isn't how things are meant to be, like some kind of alternative reality, and that in one he thinks is the original, he was MegaMan, and my Navi."  
"That would explain it's appearance among my collected data. If he has been turned human, then that data would have nowhere to go, and I have several programs about cyberworld that collect such data."  
Below them, one of the floating arms of Duo reached up and attempted to pound on Hub. Hub moved clear at the last moment, causing Duo to end up punching himself.  
"I don't know much more about him as MegaMan," Lan continued, trying not to laugh at Duo's misfortune. "Only that what in this reality I did with Angel, in the original I did with him."  
"A logical conclusion... it would explain his dislike for Bass."  
"You said you could help with that?"  
Cache nodded, "I believe if I can call on the residual data that you and Wolf have of meeting him, and perhaps of Hub himself while fused with Wolf, then I will be able to form an image of Bass and force him, or at least his consciousness, to inhabit it."  
"Then what?"  
"Then if my theory is correct, I can prevent him from leaving that image. I believe that if Hub can find a way to battle and defeat Bass, it will force him to become a normal Navi, and remove his unwanted position and powers. Beyond that, I cannot tell."  
They stood in silence for a few more minutes, watching Hub find his way back onto Duo, and the resulting repeat of his earlier mistake, this time with the other fist.  
"Maybe he doesn't need a hand after all."  
"It would seem not."  
"I wonder if it's him or Wolf coming up with most of his strategy."  
"Perhaps it is both of them? Their minds are as fused as yours are."  
Lan rubbed at his forehead slightly, "Don't remind me. It's weird enough as it is. I can remember stuff Angel did... or maybe that should be Lan did. It's really confusing."  
"I am certain it will be easier when you leave again and return to your separate selves."  
"If it wasn't for Hub being here, I'd have done that already."  
"You care about him a great deal."  
"He's my brother," Lan answered simply.  
"That is not much help, Lan. I have no idea what it is like to have a brother."  
"Examine some of MegaMan's data? Maybe there's something in there."  
"Would your brother mind?"  
"Eh, just don't tell him about it. What he doesn't know, can't hurt him."  
Cache looked at him oddly.  
"He does the same to me sometimes, like running off into the Undernet without telling me. Now I'm returning the favour."  
Lan watched, then had a sudden premonition.  
"Hold on!" he told Cache, taking hold of him and jumping off the building in a dive. He couldn't support Cache's weight as well as his own, but managed to glide down to a lower rooftop. After landing, they turned at a loud crashing sound, and saw the building they'd been stood on had been pushed to the ground, Duo on top of it.  
"A quick reaction," Cache remarked.  
"I saw it coming. Can you see Hub?"  
"He is on top of Duo."  
"I can't see him."  
Duo's body and hands flickered, then vanished, leaving only it's bucket-like head. Hub was now clearly visible, having dropped down onto some rubble nearby. He appeared to hold a short conversation with Duo's head, then looked around. When he spotted Lan and Cache, he headed down the road toward them.  
"We should meet him," Cache said. "Perhaps you could give me a lift down to the ground?"  
"Anything to fly again," Lan grinned.  
"You enjoy it?"  
"It's not something I'll forget, that's for sure. I wish I could do it outside of this area."  
"Perhaps someday you will," Cache said with a mysterious smile.  
Lan picked up Cache again, and glided down to the ground, meeting Hub at an intersection. He was, of course, grinning broadly.  
"Fun," he remarked.  
"Did you get hurt at all?" Lan asked him.  
"Maybe a scrape or two. Nothing to worry about. Hi Cache. What are you doing here?"  
"I have located ClockMan, and came to tell you. I believe I also have a solution to your issue with Bass, but that can wait."  
"Of course. Where is he?"  
"He resides in the other Dimensional Area, which is over a new town in construction. It is called Echo Ridge."  
"What?"  
"I said-"  
"Echo Ridge? Are you sure?"  
"I am certain."  
Hub looked surprised for a moment, then burst out laughing.  
"Why don't we head back?" he said when he finally recovered. "We've got a date with ClockMan – and we don't want to be late now, do we?"  
He turned and loped off back to the edge, where they'd come in. Lan and Cache shared a look, then Lan took off and followed as Cache simply vanished.


	32. Guests out of Time

Angel had taken their borrowed car to the edge of Echo Ridge, and Lan had dropped Hub off there.  
"Will you be alright, Hub?" he asked  
"Please! You need to ask?"  
"Want my help?"  
"It's just ClockMan. Wolf and I can handle him."  
"Well, what do you want us to do?"  
"Stay here, and keep in touch with Dad. If you need get word to me, talk to Cache." He nodded toward the edge of the area, where Cache stood waiting on the other side. "He'll be able to find us. Anything else?"  
"Just watch yourself... he could have left traps there for you."  
"I know," Hub grinned. "I'm counting on it."  
Without another word, he looked to Wolf, who nodded, then slotted in the Synchro chip and entered the Dimensional area.  
"Trust me," he told Lan, then left.  
"Why do I always get a bad feeling when he tells me that?" Lan muttered.

ClockMan had to be somewhere in the Echo Ridge area, Hub knew that. He knew the area well, and could clearly see what was finished and what wasn't. The house that would become Geo's home was finished – once he'd found that, he knew exactly where he was, and found he started noticing other familiar areas.  
First, he stopped by Geo's home. The door was open, as the lock hadn't been fitted yet. While the outside was finished, the inside was left unfurnished mostly.  
Upstairs, in Geo's room, he met not ClockMan, but someone else – two someone elses.  
One was white, the other black, but they both shared the same orange hair, brown-green toned skin, and sparking hands.  
"Hub Hikari," the black one said.  
"We've been expecting you," the white one continued.  
"You're the human who isn't a human."  
"You shouldn't be a part of the pestilence."  
"Pestilence?" Hub asked, puzzled. "What pestilence?"  
"Humankind," they both answered together.  
"They overrun the world, destroy nature, all for themselves," the white one continued alone.  
"They need to be eradicated. Are you with us?" the black asked him.  
"Are you kidding me? I don't share those views."  
"Then you challenge us," both told him.  
"I don't have time for this," he snapped, turning to leave.  
"We can't let you do that."  
Several large sparks filled the doorway out, preventing him from leaving. Without missing a beat, Hub turned sharply and snapped at one and catching a white arm. He pulled hard, and flung it into it's black counterpart. The two appeared to stick together for a moment, giving him the chance to press his attack on them.  
The two stepped back toward the window, paying more attention to him than where they were. They held their hands in front warningly, sparks flying from them to hold him at bay.  
Hub snarled once, then dropped low and shoved on their legs, sending them crashing to the floor. The sparks vanished as they fell, making it easy for him to get behind them and open the window. As they recovered, he picked them out and threw them out of it.  
The upper floor might not have been high up, but the garden behind the house was conspicuously missing, leaving bare rock for them to land on. As they stood up once more, groaning, a blue clock-portal appeared beneath them and seemed to suck them into it.  
The sparks blocking his exit vanished with them, letting him leave again. He'd wasted enough time here; it was time to move on.  
His next stop was the shell of what would become the card shop, beside the park he'd spent so much time in with the Orb. It looked like construction had only just started on it, as only the walls were in place.  
There were tools and materials scattered around inside, but no ClockMan. As he turned to leave, there was a fluttering sound.  
"So you came after all," he said.  
"I believe you've mistaken me for someone else," the winged apparition told him. It was coloured in a mix of blues and white patches, with wings similar to Angel's, and a curious headpiece that looked like a swan's beak.  
"Who're you?"  
"Cygnus Wing. Your friend's abandoned you, you know. I told him you'd been defeated in here, and he just left."  
"Huh. Is that so?"  
"Betrayal," Cygnus Wing remarked. "One of the constants of this warlike race you call humans. Fascinating, isn't it?"  
"You're lying."  
"Am I?"  
"Lan isn't my friend."  
"Not any more, no."  
"He wasn't before. He's my brother," Hub told him. "And he'd never abandon me like that, or listen to you without checking for himself."  
"Perhaps, but what now? Will you sink to such a level as low as them? Will you be as warlike as them?"  
"There's something to be said for it when it's justified. Either get out of the way, or I'll attack you like I did your friends."  
"Friends," he snorted. "Neither side of Gemini Spark was my friend. Untrustworthy back-stabbers, both of them."  
"No reason for you to go the same way as them. Let me leave."  
"No. I can't do that. The war is on," he said, and dived toward him.  
Hub, combined with Wolf, knew Angel's attack patterns well, and Cygnus Wing used similar ones. He was ready for this, turning and jumping at just the right moment. He landed on Cygnus Wing's back, driving him to the floor, then pinned the arms underneath him.  
"This is why you don't attack someone who's brother uses a flying Navi," he told the struggling Cygnus Wing.  
The clock-portal appeared once more, and sucked him in. It had no effect on Hub at all, leaving him on the ground after it had faded.  
Muttering irritably to himself, Hub moved on yet again, this time heading back out into the park. He was about to leave for Vista Point, when he noticed the grass wasn't the right green in places.  
There were small green snakes on it, and where they had been was dead or dying.  
"Lovely little creatures, aren't they?" A voice hissed from the bench. On it was someone who was part-snake, and mostly purple. "Don't worry... they won't bite. Unless I tell them to."  
"Is it everyone's job to get in my way today?"  
"Yes," she answered simply. "We're here to stop you."  
"Why?"  
"That's not your concern. Come here, dally with me a time... I insist."  
"I can't believe you're even suggesting this."  
"It's either that... or be bitten." The snakes had drawn fairly near by now. "Look at their trails. If this were a field of wheat, imagine the famine I could visit on the humans."  
Hub didn't reply, watching the snakes carefully. When they drew close, he took a leap over them, landing nearby the snake-woman – too close. The tail whipped up and caught him, sending him flying back into the snakes. For the first time while fused, Hub knew he'd been hurt when he felt several of the snakes bite.  
Trying to ignore it, he rolled over, swiping at the snakes. He noted several dissolved as if they were programs as the tail whipped up and into him again.  
The next time this creature swiped at him, he make a jump for her, and as he had for Cygnus Wing, attempted to pin her to the ground.  
"Get off me!" she snapped, flinging him off too easily and into one of the walls.  
Hub got to his feet and charged again, shoving her hard into a tree. The tree began to wither almost as soon as she came into contact with it.  
He'd failed to take into account the tail again, throwing him off. As he lay trying to get his breath back, something shot at her once, then twice, a pause, then twice more. She slumped to the ground, then sunk into a third clock-portal.  
Cache's image of MegaMan approached.  
"You appeared to be having some trouble there," it said in Cache's voice. "I hope you do not mind the unexpected assistance."  
"You're welcome to butt in on any fight I'm losing, Cache. Are you..."  
"I am still with Lan, but using this to assist you."  
"Ever have trouble being in two places at once?"  
"I have learned to manage it."  
"Try focusing more on one than the other," Hub advised, wincing as he got to his feet again. "That's how I solved it."  
"You have had experience in this?"  
"Something like it, when I had the Orb. I'm going to regret this when I leave this area," he muttered, rubbing at several sore spots.  
"I do not believe it will be anything serious. There is one more of these beings in this area."  
"Can you tell where?"  
"The steps beside the construction site of the school."  
"I know the place. Care to come with me?"  
Cache nodded, following him as he headed to meet the last of them.  
It turned out to be a green robe with something blue inside it, a skull resting on top wearing a crown.  
"Let me guess," Hub asked it. "You're going to try to stop me from reaching ClockMan, and have some excuse cooked up that has to do with death, right?"  
"Your perception is correct."  
"Death?" Cache asked, curious. "How did you arrive at that conclusion?"  
"The first one talked about Pestilence, the second one War. The snake one just then mentioned Famine. Pestilence, War, Famine, Death – the four horsemen of the apocalypse."  
"And now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," the crowned skull told him.  
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Hub snapped, taking a swipe.  
It faded out before he connected however, reappearing nearby. A dark cloud formed above, sparking.  
"Cache," he growled quietly. "See if you can get him. I'll distract him."  
Cache nodded, distancing himself.  
Hub approached again, lunging for it, but once more it vanished, appearing behind him.  
"You cannot defeat me, for I am Crown Thunder, and I will visit Death upon you!"  
The sparking cloud flashed, sending thunderbolts shooting to the ground. Hub had to move quickly to avoid being hit, until Cache's MegaMan image flashed, shifting to the Thunder Soul unison, and drawing the lightning to him.  
Hub sensed that Crown Thunder had a moment of hesitation, and took advantage of it. It was pinned against the wall of the school, upon which the fourth clock-portal formed, claiming him.  
"That is all four returned to their proper place in time," Cache announced, returning the MegaMan image to normal. "Now only ClockMan remains."  
"Vista Point?"  
"An accurate prediction."  
"It's the only place I didn't search except for the school," he shrugged. "Leave this one to me though."  
"Unless you are losing again?"  
"Unless that. I won't lose to ClockMan though. He's still locked in time, right?"  
"I have prevented his influence over it."  
"Then how were these things here?"  
"He brought them here before I froze his influence."


	33. A Storm of Justice

**A/N: **For those wondering just how long this story is going to be, don't panic. There isn't much left to it now, unless I slip some more unexpected twists in.  
Like the one I already have planned for the final chapter, a small piece of which is hinted at here.  
Read on, and enjoy as usual.

* * *

It was late evening by now, the skies stained a dark orange, the sun a fading light on the horizon.  
ClockMan was clearly visible, a dark figure outlined against the skies in the same spot Geo stood to stargaze. Beside him was a second figure, it's yellow colours still clearly visible in the fading light. It was clearly either a Navi, or someone dressed like one.  
On the other side was yet another Navi. Though it had dark colours and a robe around it, there was no mistaking the grand architect of all the trouble Hub had been put through.  
"You remember the plan?" Hub murmured to Cache, who nodded.  
Hub stalked up the stairs silently, heading for the trio. As he drew close, he began to pick out voices.  
"What will happen then?" Bass asked the unidentified Navi.  
"I don't know, but you better get to the Orb before he does. Only you and him can touch it."  
"Can't you?"  
The Navi shook his head, "No. I haven't used it. Unless things are set back to normal, I won't be able to touch it."  
"And if he gets it? What then, StarMan?"  
"Then you're in trouble, Bass. He'll have the Orb, and he'll be able to do anything he wants with it, just like before – except he'll also be fully of this reality and world."  
"Just what is that meant to mean?"  
"He won't be stuck in Echo Ridge like last time, and he won't be limited in his power. You'll be up against a real God then, and you'd better hope He looks at you with mercy."  
"Stop worrying," ClockMan told them. "I'm not going to lose to him."  
"You'll forgive me if I don't have faith in you," Bass snapped at him. "MegaMan's destroyed every attempt I've made yet, frozen you here in time, and defeated every one of your allies."  
"Bass," the Navi now identified as StarMan interrupted. "We ought to be going. If MegaMan finds us here and gets to me..."  
"You don't need to remind me." Bass closed his eyes, then he and StarMan vanished, leaving only ClockMan still there.  
Hub waved one hand in signal to Cache. Before long, the few tiny clouds in the sky had begun to swell up, darkening the area until the only light came from Echo Ridge's few working streetlights.  
He silently padded through the grassy area toward the raised metal observation area, then turned and signalled a second time. This time, the skies cracked and rumbled, a storm brewing. Rain fell in great sheets, hissing as it hit the metal, and drowning out the clicking of Hub's approach.  
ClockMan turned, peering through the rain, but seeing nothing.  
"Good evening," Hub growled at him. "Nice weather... isn't it?"  
"Where are you? Show yourself!"  
Hub didn't reply, circling around ClockMan until behind him. He lunged forward, shoving the soaked Navi to the ground, then quickly moved clear again, vanishing into the heavy rain once more.  
"Your friends weren't much of a challenge," Hub continued, keeping out of sight. "Terribly fragile, aren't they?"  
"They were only meant to be distractions," he answered, getting to his feet again. "I took them from the moment before their impending defeat anyway."  
He shoved the Navi back down to the ground again, snapping and snarling close to his head, making him draw back from it, afraid.  
"Hardly sporting," Hub continued to taunt him, already hidden again. "Taking them at their weakest, instead of the strongest. Or maybe you underestimated me. Thought I wasn't enough of a challenge for you."  
"And you call this sporting? This is fair?"  
"No," Hub replied, stepping directly in front of ClockMan. "This is justice," he finished, his face illuminated by a flash of lightening. The sudden appearance of Hub in front of him sent ClockMan stumbling backwards. He hit the guard rail, then was picked up and thrown over it by Hub.  
ClockMan grabbed the edge of the metal platform with his fingers, but they were clearly slipping due to rain and poor grip.  
"Please!" he called up. "Help me!"  
"No. You don't deserve it. Look down, ClockMan. Look at what awaits you at the bottom."  
ClockMan looked. Thanks to Cache, waiting for him at the bottom was an image of NebulaGrey, just as Hub remembered battling him as MegaMan. The image was looking hungrily up at the hanging Navi. "Just between you and me... he hasn't been fed for several years." Hub bent down close, then said, "Have a nice flight," and prised his fingers off.  
ClockMan fell. The image of NebulaGrey consumed him, then vanished. Cache had, of course, re-absorbed his data in it's entirety, one of the few complete specimens he'd have.  
The rain began to thin, his storm subsiding.  
"Harsh," Lan noted, joining him. "You can be very cruel when you set your mind to it, do you know that?"  
"He deserved it. Alpha, Gospel, the LifeVirus and all those Navis... he's responsible for reviving them all, and all the trouble they caused." He paused, then continued, "That doesn't vindicate Bass though – I still have that score to settle with him. What are you doing here?"  
"Cache told me about your plan, and Dad insisted I keep near in case you fell off too."  
"It's almost as if he doesn't trust me."  
"Can you blame him, in his position?" Cache asked, coming into view as himself. The MegaMan image had been dismissed already. "May I ask for a moment of time from each of you?"  
"What for?"  
"Between you, you have all met Bass in one form or another. I believe if you allow me to retrieve a copy of the data while you are still fused with your Navis, I can guarantee Bass will not escape from my image of him. And I also believe with ClockMan safely locked away, I can borrow his abilities to undo the injuries you sustained from Queen Ophiuca."  
"Oh, alright then. If nothing else to convince Dad I can do this without getting hurt."  
"You're going to lie to dad about that?" Lan asked.  
"Why not? If there's no evidence of injury, I can't have been hurt, can I?"  
"There will be evidence," Cache informed him. "One of the snakes has left a venom that I cannot remove. There is very little of it, so you are not at risk of falling ill, but it will leave a trace for some time."  
"We'll just conveniently forget to mention it then," Hub shrugged. "There's something else I want to do first though."  
He dropped back down to all fours, then shook himself dry, spraying water from his fur everywhere.  
"Hey, cut that out!" Lan complained, trying to shield himself from the spray.

Dad was waiting for them in his lab. He glanced up as they entered and nodded, "Nicely handled. Cache's been telling me what happened."  
"I think we might have a problem Dad," Hub told him.  
"Why, are you hurt?"  
"No, it's nothing like that."  
"What then?"  
Hub looked troubled, then explained, "I overheard Bass talking before I dealt with ClockMan. Only he and I can touch the Orb, and if Cache's plan works, Bass will be forced back into being a part of this reality like any other Navi. If the Orb ends up on the net, I won't be able to get to it before him."  
"You're in luck then," he replied. "A field team just recovered one of the Pulse Transmission Systems from Wily's old fortress. I'm going to look it over and make sure it still works safely before you touch it though."  
"Don't you trust me?"  
"I trust you, but I don't trust Wily. We have no idea what sort of things he could have put into one of these that could be dangerous."  
"There is time to wait anyway," Cache announced from one of the computers. "It will take some time for me to compile the image of Bass correctly."  
"Oh good," Hub said then. "Time for me to enjoy a few more things while I'm still human then."  
"What haven't you done?" Lan asked, rolling his eyes. "You've done practically everything. More than I have, anyway."  
"Actually, you two are going home for now," Dad told them. "You two are up later than usual as it is."  
"What about you then?"  
"I've got things to do still."  
"SciLab things, or Cache and me things?" Hub asked.  
"I'd like to get the last few things with Cache sorted out."  
"The only thing left to do is for me to compile the image," Cache told him. "I can handle that without you, Doctor Hikari."  
"C'mon Dad, you know what Mom will be like if you're not home again," Lan reminded him.  
"Oh, alright then. I'll come on home with you boys."

Hub woke up, this time remembering where he was. Instead of banging his head on the ceiling and falling out onto the floor, there was only a quiet thump as he dropped down out of bed. Angel and Wolf were still dozing in their PETs, undisturbed by his early rising.  
He paused after pulling on some fresh underwear, then decided to go for something different. He found out a white top and grey pants instead of his favoured blue.  
Once dressed, he stowed his door key in one pocket, then hung his PET around his neck, trying not to disturb Wolf.  
He woke anyway when anyway boarded the Metroline.  
"You could have got me up," he complained to Hub.  
"After all the fun yesterday, I thought you might want a lie in," he murmured back. "All I'm doing is going back to Marine Harbour again."  
"This early?"  
"Nothing wrong with getting up early. Besides, Chaud'll be there."  
"And that's important?"  
"Of course it is."  
"Humour me, Hub. Why is it important?"  
"Because it's been exactly two weeks since the first time I saw a sunrise... and I plan to challenge him."  
"Alone?"  
"Why not? He's always complaining he can't beat us when we're with Lan, so I've got to give him a chance, right?"  
"We'll demolish him," Wolf predicted. "After everything that's happened, you can hardly say it's fair."  
"Maybe – but I know Chaud. He won't pass up a challenge, especially if I word it right."  
"Have you ever not been in trouble?"  
"Be nice," he replied, trying not to laugh.  
"I'm surprised at you, by the way. I thought you were afraid of ghosts in the dark."  
"That was before we met those Shadow viruses. I think battling them must have helped me over it."  
"I thought it might be something like that."


	34. The Race Begins

Chaud was already sat waiting for sunrise when Hub took his usual place nearby.  
"You're earlier than usual," he noted.  
"I had a feeling you'd be here this morning," Chaud replied.  
"Am I really getting that predictable?"  
"Maybe I just know you too well. I heard about yesterday, by the way."  
"Good things only, I hope."  
"I think the only bad point to it was that your rainstorm got in the way of the construction there. It also highlighted some leaks in a few roofs though, so no harm done."  
"At least it was useful to someone else as well as me."  
"I've been meaning to ask you something actually. Have you ever considered taking the test to be an Official?"  
"Oh, god," Hub laughed. "I get into trouble often enough as it is, now you want to give me an excuse to get out of it again?"  
"You're meant to be responsible with it," Chaud pointed out. "Anyway, there's all kinds of different roles, there's bound to be one for you. Probably in Netbattling, I'm guessing."  
"I always thought that was all there was to it."  
"Of course not. But it's were you're most likely to be, especially with the reputation you've been getting yourself. I wouldn't worry about your brother overshadowing you any longer."  
"I wasn't planning to worry about it. It's never got in the way before, why let it start now?"  
"You've changed a lot, Hub... for the better, I think."  
"Good. Think you're up for a challenge?"  
"A challenge? Like what?"  
"Like taking on me and Wolf, 'natch."  
Chaud glanced over, looking suspicious. "Where?"  
"Your choice."  
"Angel?"  
"Not involved in the slightest."  
"You're on."  
"You'll have to tell me where we're going to do it first."  
"We'll use the cyberspace for my computer at home."  
"Your home? Not here?"  
"You left it up to me."  
"I know, but I don't ever recall any time you've invited anyone to your home before."  
"What's up, Hub?" he grinned. "Scared you'll lose on unfamiliar ground?"  
"Oh, now you're just asking for trouble."  
"Come on then, let's get there already so I can flatten you already."  
"Flatten us? We'll have beaten you before you manage that!"  
Chaud and Hub shared a grin, then left laughing and teasing each other over it.  
Behind them, the sunrise continued just as it always did, the last one to be seen in the same way.

Lan woke slowly as usual, then seemed to notice somehow that Hub wasn't around and got up quicker. He forgot to duck on his way out, knocking his head on the bottom of Hub's bunk.  
"First Hub falls out of bed, then you bash your head on his bed," Angel remarked. "Can't either of you get up without hurting yourself?"  
"I just forgot slightly, that's all. Where's Hub?"  
"I don't know. He didn't disturb me at all. His key's gone though, so I assume he's gone out somewhere."  
"That's good. I want to talk to you about something without him around."  
"Keeping secrets from your own brother now?"  
"I think this one needs to be kept," he told Angel.

After a hurried breakfast, Lan and Angel headed to SciLab, and the part where Chaud usually holed himself up, only to find he wasn't there.  
"He hasn't come in this morning," one of the scientists told him. "He was seen outside in the early hours, but not since."  
"Do you know where he went?" Lan pressed him.  
"I've no idea. I know he was with your brother though. Now, excuse me Lan. I've got to get back to work."  
Lan nodded, and let him leave.  
"Looking for me?" Chaud asked, entering just moments later. Hub was not with him.  
"Chaud, are you alright?"  
"Aside from a battered ego, I'm fine. I went against Hub and Wolf in a friendly battle."  
"ProtoMan?"  
"He's alright too. We lost to him, but we're both fine. What's got you so concerned?"  
"I have to talk to you about him, and the Orb. It's really important."  
"It looks like it... you're not usually this serious."  
"We're expecting trouble when Hub retrieves the Orb," Angel explained.  
Chaud looked at their mirrored expressions, then led them off to a smaller room for them to explain.

Hub had been with Chaud, but left him when they entered SciLab. He went instead directly to dad's lab.  
"So can I use it yet?" he asked dad as soon as he entered.  
"Eager, aren't you?"  
"I just don't want to let Bass get away with the Orb. It's mine this time."  
"Just give me a few more minutes. Don't forget... Bass is powerful as he is, let alone with the Orb. Watch yourself."  
"Have I ever gotten into something I couldn't get out of again?" he asked without turning a hair.  
Dad shook his head, continuing to work on the chair in the center of the room. Cables trailed from it to various computers and devices scattered around.  
"Are you sure about this?" Wolf murmured to him.  
"Of course I am. I've done this before, remember."  
"I know, I think I sort of borrowed your memory of it."  
"Really?"  
"I remember you and Lan getting eaten by Alpha."  
"Yeah, that's it then."  
"You look nervous."  
"It'll be the first time back online for two weeks, Wolf. Even if I have to use this instead."  
"Don't worry about it. It'll come back to you easily."  
"We'll see."  
The Pulse Transmission system was declared safe to use, and he was given the go ahead to use it.  
"Comfortable?" Dad asked him.  
"It's not built for comfort," he answered tartly.  
"Behave. Ready?"  
"Lets get this over with before I change my mind."  
The machine clicked, whirred and buzzed into life. It seemed like hours before his vision and hearing blanked out, then moments later, the familiar greens and yellows of SciLab's homepage formed around him.  
"Well look at you," Wolf, beside him, said.  
Hub glanced at one hand, then instantly understood. He was still a Navi really, and here back in his home territory of the net, he was back to MegaMan again.  
"You know what this means, don't you?" he asked Wolf.  
"No, what?"  
"It means you're going to give me a lift – otherwise how am I going to keep up with you?"  
"Now hold on a moment. You're not looking for the Orb yet. You haven't even decided where you're going to take on Bass."  
"Here's as good a place as any other. Besides, Cache's over by the boards."  
It was somehow strange for him to walk through the homepage again after so long, and stranger still to see people reacting to him again. Most of the reactions were of curiosity – he was a heavily customized Navi, and it was clearly visible.  
No one approached, however. Wolf's reputation since he'd been stuck as a human meant that people kept out of their way.  
Cache didn't notice their approach, apparently being more interested in the boards.  
Hub put one hand on his shoulder.  
"Find anything interesting?" he asked.  
"You are here? But how?"  
"The system worked. Looks like I'm still good old MegaMan here online."  
"Curious. Perhaps I may be able to return the data you left with me to you."  
"Go ahead."  
Cache now put a hand on Hub's shoulder, and closed his eyes. The two glowed blue briefly, then Cache nodded, removing his hand. "It is yours again. You are complete once more."  
"I noticed. Now, what do you say we ask our dear friend Bass to pay a call on us?"  
"Here? Is this a good place?"  
"Why is everyone arguing with me today?" Hub complained. "It's not like there's any good place to do this, you know."  
Cache looked to Wolf, who just shrugged.  
"At the very least, it would be wise to pick an area that is not likely to have many Navis or programs around."  
"My homepage then," Hub told him. "There's the private area of it which we can use."  
"Unwise. You may damage your computer."  
"Computers can be replaced."  
"I still do not recommend it."  
"The Undernet then. No one really cares about them anyway. It's the perfect place."  
"Being a bit inconsiderate of them, aren't you?" Wolf commented. "First you give them Gospel, and now you're giving them Bass."  
"Who cares?" Hub shrugged. "It's just the Undernet. It's not like it's important."  
Wolf continued his disapproving look, but Cache ignored it. "He does have a point. When Gospel disrupted the Undernet, a great many people outside of it considered it a good thing because it reduced it's threat. If the confrontation with Bass is similarly destructive, it would cause a repeat."  
"I don't like it," Wolf told them.  
"Do you have a better idea?" Hub asked him.  
"No," he answered, grudgingly.  
"Then we'll do it there. We can use ColourMan's link on my homepage to get there quicker."

"Pass me that datachip, Lan." Chaud took the chip, then attached it to Angel's PET. "Hold still. This might hurt a little."  
"It's for a good reason," Angel replied. "I can bear it."  
"Good. Lan, how's ProtoMan coming along?"  
"Almost finished. One more link to connect up."  
"We've got a sighting of Wolf," one of the scientists in the room announced. "He just passed through Lan's homepage in the company of two unknown Navis."  
"And my brother?"  
"No readings, Lan."  
"Could we be too late, Chaud?"  
"I don't think so. He can't have beaten Bass that easily."  
"We'd better hurry then."

Cache's image flickered and distorted, not fully forming.  
"He is putting up resistance."  
"Can you overcome him?" Hub asked.  
"I believe so. Be ready."  
Hub nodded to Wolf, who took up a position behind the image. Hub stood in front, a smirk on his face as he waited.  
The image began to stabilize, then with a sound like a wet towel hitting something, it finished.  
"You!" was Bass' first word.  
"Me," Hub answered.  
"Let me go!"  
"Oh, give over. You really think I'm going to listen to you?"  
"I'll delete you!"  
"No, you won't."  
Bass raised a hand as if to throw something, but Wolf was there already. He took the arm and held it against his back.  
"He said you won't," Wolf whispered. "So you won't be doing that."  
"Get off me. I created you, and I can undo that any time I want."  
"I don't think so," Hub told him. "You're wide open to attack right now."  
"You won't do anything. I'm the only chance you have to set things straight."  
"Wrong again," he replied, taking aim. "If I beat you, the Orb loses it's owner. Then it's a race between you and me to find it. If I find it, I can do whatever I want."  
Bass struggled free of Wolf, throwing him clear. Hub shot him twice before he managed to recover, then twice more before Bass managed to get clear.  
Then Bass returned the attack, drawing out his own busters and opening fire. Unlike Hub he didn't bother to aim, relying on the rapid fire to catch him.  
He'd been expecting this, and focused on keeping out of range and not getting shot. Bass took the bait, following. Wolf struck from behind, pouncing on top of him and shoving him back to the ground.  
He was thrown off again, and shot several more times as he tried to rise. Each one seemed to impact him more than it should have, and every shot more than the last. Wolf, by contrast seemed to have no effect at all.  
Hub glanced over at Cache. Cache opened one eye, smiled at him, then closed it again. He was doing more help than he thought he was.  
Bass started to attack again, this time with the dark flaming wheels he'd come to know as Hell's Rollers. They were powerful, but inaccurate – Hub knew all of Bass' tricks. It left him more opportunities to harm the supposed 'super Navi' even further.  
Finally he collapsed, beaten. Hub did not let up until the image flickered again, and seemed to explode into nothing with a great cry.  
Cache hurried to where Bass had been and examined the area, then looked up sharply.  
"He is not here. He is in the Undernet though, as is the Orb. It's uncontrolled influence is bending the local space."  
"Where is it?" Hub asked intently. "Where is my Orb?"  
Cache laid both hands on the floor and concentrated. His hands seemed to ripple, changing through the dark colours that the Undernet was made from.  
"It is quite deep," he warned.  
"I don't care."  
"It is the place where the darker side of ProtoMan was once eliminated."  
Hub knew the place and left immediately.  
ProtoMan had been captured by Nebula's CloudMan and given a DarkSoul. This deep part of the Undernet was the area where he'd first met Colonel, and where with Colonel's help he'd destroyed that DarkSoul to retrieve ProtoMan.  
Wolf caught up with him.  
"If you'll tell me where, I can get us there quicker!" he called.  
Hub vaulted onto Wolf's back, startling him. "Just follow my directions," he called back. "And trust me."  
Wolf flicked an ear as he said that, picking up speed. He had to try not to pull out any fur while trying to keep his grip.


	35. Now and Again

**A/N:** Yes, after a long time on hiatus, I've gotten around to working on this story once more. I don't know why I left it alone so close to the end, but now I'm working on it again, we'll have it finished in no time.

* * *

The area that Nebula had once put ProtoMan in charge of, and had seen ProtoMan's own DarkSoul eliminated, still showed heavy signs of the damage done to it from that same takeover. Of course, the Undernet was hardly a priority area to make repairs to. It had suffered far worse.  
Wolf didn't trust the area, running around the winding path to it's deepest point.  
Moments after he and Hub entered, Bass entered the area too. He showed signs of the battle just minutes before, and instead of floating as he usually did, he was running – and with a fair turn of speed behind him.  
"Move faster, Wolf. He's catching up."  
"I'm going as fast as I can!" he snapped back.  
Hub peeked up over Wolf's head, and surveyed the area.  
A third Navi entered the area. Hub glanced back to look but saw no one. He turned back, and thought quickly.  
"How far do you think you can throw me, Wolf?"  
"What?"  
"Reckon you can chuck me over the other side of that gap?"  
"Have you lost your mind?"  
"Better that than the Orb, Wolf. Can you do it?"  
Wolf muttered something, then told him, "Get ready to let go as soon as I stop."  
Wolf slowed, turned sharply at the brink and stopped. Hub let go. Wolf bucked like a horse, flinging him into the air.  
Hub caught the far edge, but only just. Pulling himself up was an easy matter, and he made a break for the Orb. He could see it clearly now, a small blue sphere, showing their world inside. The floor beneath it seemed to be distorted into a dip into the ground, as if the small Orb was far larger. Hub slid down the rest of the way when he reached the edge.  
"No!" Bass cried out when he reached it.  
Hub picked up the Orb. "The Orb," he started, kneeling to pick it up. A shockwave pulsed through the air, but it had no force to it. Something flickered very briefly in the air, but was gone again after it passed. MegaMan finished off with, "is mine now." He stayed knelt on one knee, eyes closed. The hand with the Orb rested on the other knee. The depression that the Orb had apparently caused seemed to snap back again, restoring the flat floor. MegaMan was not flung into the air as it seemed he should have been, instead remaining completely still.  
Wolf joined him not long after.  
"Hub? Hub, are you alright?"  
"Heh. I'm better than alright."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I have the orb," he stated in a quiet voice.  
"Yes, I know, well done for getting to it before Bass and all that, but are you alright?"  
"I can't be anything other than alright, Wolf."  
"Why not?"  
MegaMan got to his feet at last, still facing away. He brought the Orb in front of him, seemingly staring into it's depths.  
"The Orb, Wolf. I'm in control now. I can do anything."  
Wolf said nothing. The sudden calm that had come over MegaMan worried him.  
Bass caught up with him, fully intent on reaching MegaMan, but Wolf flung out one arm to stop him, shaking his head.  
"Wait for Angel," he murmured.

Angel was circling high above.  
"He's not doing anything yet," he reported. "Just staring into the Orb."  
"Can you get closer?" Chaud asked. "I'd like to know what he's using it for."  
"We don't know if the modified Invisibility data will hold up if I get too close."  
"I'll monitor the data and modify it as we go if it comes down to it."  
"Alright, I'll try it, but if it starts to fail, I'll be in trouble."  
"We may already be in trouble, Angel."  
"Don't remind me. How's Lan?"  
"He's ready. I don't want to say too much in case Hub can hear us."  
Angel nodded, starting to glide downwards in a spiral.  
"Slower, Angel," Chaud warned. "It's starting to fail."  
"What's causing it?"  
"I don't know. I'm working on it."  
Angel slowed his descent, still circling around above Hub.  
As he neared, he saw the Orb clearer. It showed this area. More importantly, it showed him.  
"Chaud."  
"What?"  
"He knows I'm here. The Orb can see through it."  
"Try to act as if we don't know."  
"Too late," MegaMan's voice sounded. Another shockwave pulsed from the Orb, this time knocking Angel out of the air. He had to scramble quickly to land safely, rolling to his feet muttering irritably.  
"He's starting to annoy me now," Angel muttered, just loud enough to be heard.  
"Keep yourself under control, Angel. I'm sending the word to Lan. We have to distract Hub. Get the others to help you."  
Angel muttered something else, then quickly hurried over to Wolf and Bass, not trusting Hub to let him fly again.

Chaud had allowed Lan to borrow ProtoMan for their plan, and the two of them were now waiting nervously. Everything had to be timed perfectly.  
Cache was working away inside the computer beside them, the computer itself barely keeping up with him.  
"How much longer, Cache?"  
"You must be patient, Lan. I am working as quickly as possible," he answered, only a hint of nerves in his own tone.  
"Chaud just signalled," ProtoMan announced. "He's going to buy us as much time as he can, but if Hub has the Orb he may already be aware of it."  
"He is not," Cache told him. "I have taken precautions."  
"The Orb has a lot of power behind it," Lan pointed out.  
"So do I. I choose not to exert it unless it is required." He continued to work for a little longer, then a copybot nearby flickered into life, taking on the familiar form of ClockMan.  
"What am I doing back?" he asked, then appeared to notice Lan. "You again!"  
"There's no time for that!" ProtoMan snapped. "We have a problem, and we need you."  
"Oh, really? Last time we met, he deleted me." Then he noticed Cache. "And _he_ stole my data."  
"You'll be glad he did in a moment. Hub has the Orb, and Chaud sent us a warning that he's not acting like himself. Cache insists we're protected from him for now, but I have my doubts."  
"So what do you need me for?"  
"Send ProtoMan and me back in time," Lan told him. "Back to the original incident that set all this up. We'll take care of it from there, and if we can get it right, we'll be able to prevent anything Hub might do, and set things straight again."  
"What's in it for me?"  
"You'll have to accompany us back, of course. Bring Cache with us, and he'll ensure you continue to exist no matter what changes happen. Just try to stay out of trouble – or we'll be meeting again."  
ClockMan seemed to be considering it.  
"Quickly, ClockMan," ProtoMan insisted. "We don't have long."  
"You will shortly. Exactly when and where do you need to be?"  
Lan turned to Cache, who displayed the details on a terminal nearby. ClockMan examined it, thought for a little more, then nodded.  
Two of his clock-portals appeared, one beside Cache, the other beside himself and Lan. The scenery blurred, then settled again, showing a room in SciLab, the same room that Chaud had originally commanded the Liberation missions from. Chaud himself sat at the desk.  
Cache had appeared on the display behind him, nodding once to them then disappearing. ClockMan vanished from the copybot, causing it to revert to it's normal form.  
"What's this?" Chaud exclaimed, looking up. "How did you get here?"  
"There's no time to explain," Lan said. "Where's your ProtoMan?"  
"Jacked in, waiting for MegaMan on the SciLab homepage, and what do you mean, my ProtoMan."  
"Hey Chaud," the ProtoMan Lan had brought with him said. "Down here."  
Chaud looked stunned. He glanced quickly back to his own display, then back again. "How is this possible?"  
"No time to explain. You've got to get your ProtoMan out of there, and let us handle this."  
"Not without hearing why."  
"There isn't any time!" Lan insisted. "We're working on a very strict timetable here, and there's no room for error."  
"Cache just sent us word, Lan," ProtoMan told him. "We've got to replace my counterpart quickly, MegaMan will be coming online very shortly."  
Chaud hesitated, then to the screen, "Get out, ProtoMan. Something's going on here that I don't fully understand." Then to Lan, "Go on. Whatever it is seems to be serious. Get to it."  
Lan nodded, taking Chaud's place and sending ProtoMan online.  
"First stop the ACDC net," Lan told his ProtoMan.  
"I know the list, Lan."  
"Humour me."  
ProtoMan sighed, but headed from the SciLab homepage to Lan's homepage, and from there to the ACDC network. There were Navis everywhere.  
"Launching the program," ProtoMan announced. The floor of the area sparked, flashed, then every Navi was jacked out. The programs remaining were frozen in place. "Area clear," he reported.  
"Right. Lock out the other areas before we do the same to SciLab's net."  
"Roger."  
"What are you _doing_?" Chaud exclaimed.  
"Trust us, it's necessary. How long, ProtoMan?"  
"Oran and End areas are locked out. The various homepage links are still functional though."  
"Good. We want that, it'll keep their Lan and MegaMan from growing suspicious until after they're on the main net. Get to SciLab, quickly."  
ProtoMan nodded, pushing through the crowd of Navis on Lan's homepage to reach the SciLab link. He reached it just in time, MegaMan appearing just as he left.  
"How are the mail and phone networks?" ProtoMan asked him.  
"I've got them on delay for Lan and MegaMan only. No one can reach them."  
ProtoMan nodded again, quickly heading back out to the SciLab network and launching the same program again. Once more, Navis were forced out, and programs were frozen.  
"That's all of them. I'm taking up the position on the homepage."  
"Now it's just a waiting game."  
"I just got word from Cache. MegaMan just entered the SciLab area."  
"Are we ready?"  
"For him? Definitely. That's not all he sent word about though."  
Lan had a sudden cold feeling. "What else?"  
"Our MegaMan just showed up on their net. He says he's making arrangements to try to keep him out of their MegaMan's way, but we may have to face him yet."  
"Let's hope he can manage it."  
MegaMan entered the SciLab area, looking worried.  
"Here goes," ProtoMan muttered.  
"Chaud," Lan said then, opening a file on a computer nearby. "This MegaMan can't know it's not you operating ProtoMan. I need you to keep to this script."  
"How do you know what'll happen?"  
"Trust me. You wouldn't believe the explanation and-"  
"We don't have time," Chaud finished. "Fine."  
"You're early," ProtoMan greeted MegaMan.  
"Is there something going on?" MegaMan asked curiously.  
"That's odd. I was about to ask you the same. Chaud and I can't get in touch with anyone. It's like the entire phone and mail networks are down."  
"I think something strange is happening on the main net too," MegaMan told him. "We didn't see anyone at all on the way here, just a few Programs – and even they made no response."  
"That's impossible," ProtoMan scoffed.  
"See for yourself."  
ProtoMan, feigning disbelief, led them out to the main SciLab network, where he pretended to look stunned.  
"You're up in a moment," Lan nudged Chaud.  
"I know, I can read this," he murmured back.  
"Chaud, are you seeing this?" ProtoMan asked him.  
"Of course I am. Something's wrong."  
"You don't say," Lan heard his counterpart mutter. "Maybe it has to do with the suspicious lack of anyone around except us?"  
"Go to Scilab 2," Chaud read, ignoring the comment. "There's some strange readings coming from there."  
"Strange?" their Lan asked. "Isn't this strange enough?"  
"Stranger," Chaud amended.  
The two headed to the strange link in the area.  
"Someone's gotta be brave enough to try it," MegaMan said, entering it.  
"This is it, Lan," ProtoMan told him. "Can we do it?"  
"We have to."  
ProtoMan headed into the link after MegaMan.  
"Another Vision Burst?" he asked MegaMan, who was looking curiously around.  
"I don't think so," MegaMan replied. "It doesn't look the same. It resembles ACDC slightly, but it's not quite right."  
"I don't think we should trust it," ProtoMan said then. "Whatever it is seems to have done a lot to the network. Maybe it would be safer if we left now and waited for it to go back to normal."  
"But this link isn't normally here, ProtoMan," he protested. "There's got to be something here."  
"I'm not picking up anything," he shook his head. "How about you, Chaud?"  
There was no script for this, so he looked to Lan, who also shook his head.  
"There's nothing out of the ordinary here. ProtoMan's right," he improvised quickly.  
MegaMan hesitated.  
"Chaud and I will stay behind to check it all in more detail," ProtoMan told him. "You get back to Lan, it'll be safer."  
"Lan?" MegaMan asked. "What do you think?"  
"We'll trust them, MegaMan. We should go to SciLab and see if there's anything we can do to help though."  
"Right," MegaMan said, and before ProtoMan could object, he'd jacked out.  
"Lan..."  
"Don't worry," he said. "We should be gone long before they get here. Get back here, quickly."  
"Wait! Something's coming through the link!"  
"What? That's impossible – unless... oh, no."  
"Oh, no?" Chaud asked. "What does it mean?"  
"It means whatever arrangements Cache made haven't worked."


	36. Third Time's Charm

**A/N: **And now at last, with the status of the longest story yet (for now), this epic tale finally reaches it's end. Feel free to speculate on anything I've left unexplained and such, but mostly just enjoy, of course.

* * *

The scene was tense. Lan and the past Chaud stood watching as ProtoMan waited in the strange Vision Burst of Echo Ridge. Their MegaMan, not the past one, appeared in the area, complete with the Orb in one hand.  
"A bold plan," he told them. "It almost worked too. But no matter. MegaMan will be returning any moment now after the warning I gave him. Right about... now."  
MegaMan came through the link again, this time the one that had appeared to jack out.  
"Who are you?" he asked, eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Who are you really, and what are you doing?"  
ProtoMan hesitated. "Chaud?" he asked, keeping the act up.  
The real Chaud turned to Lan.  
"We can drop the pretence," Lan told him. "No doubt MegaMan has told... MegaMan something."  
"Lan?" the past MegaMan asked incredulously.  
"It's not me," his Lan said.  
"Of course it's not you," Lan said absently.  
"Then who are you?"  
"I'm you, just not you. ProtoMan, was their any word of what happened to the others?"  
"Nothing," ProtoMan replied. "The last I got was the message telling him he'd made arrangements."  
"Oh yes," the future MegaMan smirked. "Your friends. What _do_ you suppose is delaying them?"  
"What did you do to them?"  
"Me? I'm shocked at you, Lan. How could you suspect me of doing anything to them?"  
"What happened?" he insisted.  
"Oh, I imagine they met their demise by the hand of an old friend of ours. NebulaGrey is quite hungry, as I recall. Was," he corrected himself. "Though I imagine he'll be along shortly looking for another snack."  
"ProtoMan, get out of there – quickly!"  
"Something's blocking me, Lan. The only way out is through them."  
"And they don't look like they're about to let us leave."  
ProtoMan backed away uneasily. "I can't fight them, Lan. He'd be too much for me alone."  
"We don't have to do it for long. Just enough to get you out of there."  
"Easier said than done," he muttered, noting both of them make ready for a fight. "If I do anything to the past one..."  
"We may have no choice. Can you reach Cache?"  
"Not with these two on my back."  
"I'll try and get in touch with them. Hold out as long as you can."  
"Let us help," Chaud broke in.  
"Absolutely not. If something happens to your ProtoMan, it could change everything for the worse."  
ProtoMan blocked a barrage of attacks from the future MegaMan, while the past one remained to guard the link back to the normal net. Though he stood up well, he still took damage and couldn't hold out indefinitely.  
"Lan," he said suddenly. "What colour are MegaMan's eyes meant to be?"  
"Is this really the time to be asking?"  
"Don't be tiresome."  
"They're green, why?"  
"The eyes on our one aren't. They're red."  
"Red? But what would cause that?"  
As if to answer, the past MegaMan announced, "Someone's coming through the link – several of them!"  
Angel and Wolf were first to emerge, both breathing hard as if they'd been running hard. Cache flickered into appearance beside them as ClockMan also emerged from the link. MegaMan backed away from them apprehensively, looking to his future self.  
He and ProtoMan broke off their fight to watch as they stood clear of the link and watched as another Navi appeared.  
It was Bass, and it looked like he was in what could only be described as an inarticulate rage.  
"Impossible!" MegaMan breathed, looking suddenly afraid.  
"You... you..." Bass started, then discarded any semblance of self control and launched himself at MegaMan. ProtoMan hastily got clear, joining his friends.  
"Just what happened to you lot?" he asked.  
"Bass duped us," Wolf explained. "When he realised he was going to lose the Orb, he set a trap on it for MegaMan."  
"When he retrieved it, it activated," Angel continued. "Since it used the Orb's power and wasn't dependant on Bass, it worked even then, dumping MegaMan into Bass' program, and loading Bass into his own. Then it created NebulaGrey as a distraction for us, so we wouldn't notice."  
"That's why!" Lan almost shouted. "MegaMan's eyes are red because it's Bass there."  
"I guess that explains why Bass' eyes seemed green," Angel murmured to Wolf.  
The past MegaMan looked to each of them in turn, shaking his head.  
"I'm confused. Who are all of you, and what are you talking about?"  
"It hasn't happened yet," ClockMan told him. "You've got it all to come. We'd better keep from saying too much," he told the others.  
"Yeah, but who are you all?"  
"You'll met us all in time."  
The real MegaMan used Bass' own abilities against their former own with a rage that made him almost more dangerous than he had been with his own.  
Finally, he sent Bass tumbling to the ground, groaning. MegaMan hurried over, held the arm with the Orb to the ground, and seized it for himself. There was an awful tearing sound as ownership passed from one to the other.  
Bass looked even more afraid when he realised he'd lost the Orb yet again.  
"Cache," MegaMan snapped in Bass' voice. "Did you make the preparations?"  
"Of course."  
"Then get out of here. All of you except my past self. And Lan, get the past ProtoMan here, now."  
"You heard him," Lan nudged Chaud again as he pulled ProtoMan out. This lost them their view of the scene, restored only when the past ProtoMan reached the area. Only three remained now, Bass now apparently in his own body once more, the past MegaMan and the future MegaMan.  
Bass looked in part afraid, in part irritated. He seemed to be contained by some kind of barrier MegaMan had created.  
"What now?" Lan asked him.  
"I'm going to get you and Bass back to your own time, sort out the timeline, then I'll be along to join you." He turned to his past self and ProtoMan. "As soon as I'm done with that, you two are going to go up to Vista Point up there and retrieve the Orb the way you were meant to."  
"Why don't I just leave the Orb alone?"  
"This won't have happened otherwise, which means I won't have stopped it, and you'll have no reason not to. That causes a paradox, which is bad. Just go and take it."  
"Can you really affect the past, MegaMan?" Chaud asked him.  
"Through the Orb, and as long as I'm still here, of course."  
"Then why not eliminate the chances of a paradox, and alter everyone's memory so me, Lan – the past Lan – and so on won't remember this?"  
"I never thought of that. I guess you're smarter than you look."  
"Hey!"  
"He's just teasing you, Chaud," Lan told him.  
"Alright," MegaMan said then. "Here goes. I'm putting everyone back when they belong, then we'll sort out memories."  
MegaMan hid himself on top of a building in Echo Ridge and watched as his past self and the past ProtoMan went through just as he remembered, no longer aware of what had just happened. He followed them up to the platform where Geo was, and kept a close eye on them as they left. There was someone he wanted to see.  
Geo handed the orb, and the two left. His past self was, of course, knocked unconscious as he took his place as an unwilling God and reality changed. Geo didn't move from his stargazing. Someone had to show up soon to tell him to go to his past self to explain.  
He was starting to worry as no one arrived, then realized who it would have been. He created himself a robe like the one Bass normally wore to conceal who he was, then met Geo.  
"Who're you?" Geo asked when Mega finally got him to look.  
"That's not important. You need to go to MegaMan and explain what's happened to him."  
"And what has happened to him?"  
"He now has the whole world in his hand, literally. He can't go back there, because he doesn't exist in that altered reality, and he'll have to influence it through the Orb. If he can make them realize his existance and enough about him, reality will reset back to normal again. Think you can remember all that?"  
"We'll explain it, but who are you?"  
"I already told you, not important. Keep an eye on him. One of you, anyway. I've already stayed past my due time."  
"Wait!" Geo called after him as he used the Orb to return to his own time, appearing before Lan and Chaud. Cache and ClockMan were, of course, nowhere to be seen. Wolf, Angel and ProtoMan were waiting, watching from their respective PETs. Lan had both Wolf's and Angel's ones.  
"Well?" Chaud asked.  
"It's all sorted. By the way... keep thinking of those good ideas." Chaud looked puzzled, but he said no more.  
"What now then?" Lan asked him.  
"Now I have to decide what I'm going to do with this." MegaMan answered, holding up the Orb. "Not to mention this reality."

He was back in Lan's room, in his PET once more.  
With a sense of Deja vu, he asked, "Lan? Lan, are you alright?"  
He looked disoriented, but answered, "Huh? Yeah, what happened?"  
"Just a bug where we were, that's all. I got out just in time. I hope ProtoMan did too."  
"He'll be fine. He's been through worse."  
"Could we check up on him all the same? I'd like to be sure, just in case it was worse than I thought."  
"But MegaMan, that means I have to see Chaud."  
"So? Try being nice to him for a change. I'm sure he'll be nice back if you're nice to him."  
"As if!" he snorted  
"Just give it a try, Lan. What harm can it do?"  
"Oh, alright then. Just once, and if you're wrong..."  
"He won't be. C'mon, we better get going."  
"What's this we? I'm the one who has to go."  
"Stop complaining," he sighed. Lan was back to his normal stubborn self.  
Just as he had been after the first time reality reset, Chaud was in the command room at SciLab, and looked up as they entered.  
"I'm sorry, Lan. I don't know what's happened to MegaMan."  
"That's alright. He got out safely," he answered, showing the PET.  
"Glad to hear it. What did you want?"  
"We thought we'd stop by see if ProtoMan was alright too."  
"Of course he is. He's been through worse."  
"Told you so," Lan told MegaMan.  
"What happened to that Orb?" ProtoMan asked, appearing on a nearby monitor.  
"It vanished when I got back," MegaMan answered.  
"Strange. Chaud and I found some odd data in that area that got attached to me on the way back. He can't identify it."  
"Could it be a Navi?"  
"I suggested that too," ProtoMan replied blandly, "But he doesn't seem to agree with me."  
"You've got no evidence it could be, ProtoMan," Chaud sighed, rolling his eyes.  
"You haven't even tried it to see if it could be," ProtoMan protested. "Besides, MegaMan thinks it is too, doesn't that even merit trying it just to see if we're right?"  
Chaud rounded on him, "Why do you think it's a Navi?"  
"It's just a hunch I've got. Something tells me there's a Navi in it."  
"MegaMan's hunches are usually pretty reliable," Lan told Chaud. "Maybe it's worth trying it?"  
"Alright! I'll give it a go."  
"Finally," ProtoMan murmured, winking at MegaMan out of Lan and Chaud's sight. MegaMan returned it with a grin.  
"There's too much here for a Navi," Chaud told them.  
"Maybe there's more than one," MegaMan suggested.  
Chaud gave him an icy look, but turned back to the data and continued to work. Another screen nearby flickered into life, and two figures appeared on it.  
"Hello again MegaMan," one growled. "I guess it worked, then?"  
"I have no idea what you're talking about," MegaMan answered with a completely straight face. As all eyes turned to look at him, ProtoMan leaned into sight on their screen and whispered something to them before he returned.  
The second figured nodded as he leaned back, winking at him, then said, "He did say he wouldn't remember us, Wolf. Or did you forget again?"  
"What do you mean, again, Angel? When did I ever forget anything?"


	37. Alternative Ending: Darkly Ever After

**A/N: **What's this, you ask? Another chapter on a completed story?  
Not quite. This is actually one of the alternative endings that I wrote, then decided not to use. I've worked on it a little, patched it up in places and now here I am, giving it to you.  
This chapter discounts what happened in the previous chapter because, well, that's a different ending to this one.  
Now, I leave you to read - and speculate on just what other differences there may be, that I don't mention here.

* * *

Lan looked bemused for a few moments, abruptly finding himself sat back at his computer in his room. Reality had been changed again, that was for sure, but it hadn't been done well. He could still remember the previous one – and the one before it. It was like remembering several different lifetimes at once. Once it passed, he glanced down.  
His PET was white, and Angel looked back at him from it, looking worried.  
For several more moments, neither of them moved, not a word was said.  
The door to his room was edged open cautiously, and Chaud poked his head around. He once again had his undyed hair, looking identical to the way he had been before the first time reality had been set back to normal. His PET hung down on it's cord, only just in sight. ProtoMan looked out from it, looking no less concerned than Angel.  
Finally, Angel spoke. "There's something wrong," he murmured. "This isn't..."  
"Isn't how it was meant to be..." Chaud finished. "MegaMan?"  
Lan shook his head.  
"I've got a bad feeling about this," ProtoMan said, nervously fidgeting around.  
Lan finally found his voice, but didn't trust himself to say much. He had a strong suspicion he knew what had happened, and he didn't like it. "Dad," was all he said.  
"Right," Angel agreed. "He might know."  
There was an almost tangible tenseness shared between them as they left, and a sense of being watched. None of them seemed willing to say anything unless it was necessary.  
Everything looked as it should, but there was still the nagging feeling that something was different, something very wrong about everything.  
As they made their way around, it seemed as if others also had the same feeling, as everyone they met seemed somehow subdued, as if there was something to be afraid of, that no one wanted to talk about.  
SciLab, now once again south-west of ACDC town, instead of it's previous place at Marine Harbour or anywhere else, was exceptionally quiet. There were no tours, no people asking questions, no people talking. Everyone seemed to go about their business with as little interaction with each other as possible.  
It took a few moments to get into the lab, as the receptionist seemed suspicious of Lan's claim to being Doctor Hikari's son. Only the passport still stored on his PET confirmed his identity and got them in.  
"That was odd," Chaud murmured to him on the way up.  
"You noticed," Lan answered acidly.  
"Be nice," he replied. "Shouldn't they have recognised you though? I mean, after everything you've done..."  
"I don't think Lan did any of it in this reality," Angel told them. "It's just a feeling so far, but I get the idea we're not so well-known as we used to be."  
"Hush," Lan warned, pointing at the elevator's display. "We're almost there."  
The lights were out in the lab, and the usual humming of the various machines and computers was instead silent. Lan stumbled around, looking for the light switch he knew was beside the door, and found it further down the wall than he remembered.  
With the light came a disturbing realization. There was no lab here. There was nothing here. It was an empty room.  
Chaud bit his lip, then said, "The observation room. Where the liberation missions were done from."  
Silence remained on their way back down to check the room, more tense than before. This was not right, and they knew it.  
They found Doctor Hikari in the observation room, looking weary as he flitted from this console to that terminal, over to a different computer then back again. He didn't notice them at all until Lan called to him.  
"What? Oh. It's you boys. When did you get here?"  
"Just now. Are you alright?"  
"No, and I don't think you are either. My lab's empty."  
"We know," Chaud told him. We just went there looking for you."  
"Dad, what happened?"  
"I don't know," he confessed, pausing momentarily in whatever he was working on, then continued, "I do know the Orb and MegaMan are no longer in this world, or if they are, they're being hidden very well."  
"Could MegaMan have kept it?"  
"Don't suggest that Lan," he told him, a fearful expression touching him. "Don't even think that. I don't like the idea that one of my boys got too tempted by power and kept it."  
"What if he did?" Angel asked.  
"Yes, what if I did?" MegaMan's voice added from behind them. They all turned to look, seeing him stood there, looking as he had as Hub. In one hand, he tossed the Orb up in the air over and over, almost absently. He seemed calm, but beyond that it was hard to read his expression.  
"You look surprised, Dad," he continued. "I thought you'd have caught on already. I'm sorry about the lab, by the way. I hadn't intended for that to happen, but I guess it's the price you pay for leaving everything up to your resident god when things like World 3, Nebula and so on crop up."  
"You took the credit for them?" Lan asked incredulously. "All of them? For everything we did together?"  
"Naturally. After I altered the first few events so I was responsible, the rest happened by itself. People began to realise that if I was asked in the right way, I'd show up and deal with it personally. So I did. I also remembered you sometimes complained about wanting to have a chance at being normal, like everyone else. Well, here you go. You wanted it, now I've given it."  
"What about me?" Chaud asked. "You put me back like this? Once homeless, picked up by Lan again?"  
"I left you the memories you had from that reality. You should remember, you asked me to see if I could turn you more like this when I changed things back. So I gave you the chance."  
"You could have asked me before you did it," Chaud replied reproachfully.  
"Then just ask for it to be changed. No, wait. What's the word?" he thought for a moment, then said, "Pray. That's what people do when they want to talk to their God, isn't it?"  
"What makes you think you're a god?" Doctor Hikari asked him. "The Orb? You don't even know it's origin, or why it was made."  
"And to be honest, I don't really care. Don't you see? I can do that much good this way, far more than I could just being a Navi."  
"That doesn't make it right. You've let that power go to your head."  
"Maybe. Maybe not. I don't intend to use it unnecessarily, you know."  
"Where does it stop being right, Hub?"  
"Where I decide it does," he shrugged. "I know what you're leading up to with this. There's no fixed line, no black and white. Grey gets in the way. The most definite you'll get is what my morals decide. Morals change, I'll grant, but-"  
"If you still had any morals, you'd have put reality straight, not twisted it into this."  
Hub sighed, and stopped tossing the Orb. "I had hoped you wouldn't see things that way. You leave me little choice." He looked into the Orb, and it pulsed once. Doctor Hikari disappeared.  
"What have you done to him?" Lan demanded.  
"Oh, relax. I gave him his lab back. It's not exactly the same, and I had to alter a few other things, but he's back up there. He won't remember this incident though, and he won't be inclined to believe either of you if you try to bring it up with him. You four are the only ones who know what's happened."  
"You think we'll keep quiet about it?"  
"If you don't want me to... alter you a little... you'll keep it to yourselves. You'll find doing things the way I want them to be done benefits you. Rewards go to those who do things the way I say, punishments go to those who don't."  
"Dad was right," Lan shook his head. "You don't have any morals. At least not the same ones you used to have."  
He sighed again, "True. I had a change in perspective, and they changed with it. I'd rather not do anything to any of you unless I have to. I could have changed you right from the start, and you'd be more than willing to do things my way afterwards, but I didn't want to do that, and still don't."  
"But you will if we try to do something you don't like, or act against you?"  
"I'd rather you didn't do that, no. If it comes down to it... I will though. The same goes for pretty much everything. I can change anything, and I won't hesitate to if I have to." He scratched absently at his chin, then nodded and continued, "I've said my piece. No doubt if you look long enough you'll find some of the places people created in my honour, to call on me. See you around... if I feel like it."  
He seemed to waver in the air, like a mirage, then faded out until there was nothing left.


End file.
